Nathan Whiting

THE WHY RESURGENCE — a manifesto?

We have barely an illusion of real time,           
			                       the real Why.
     “Mama, Why are we in fog?” 
     “It leads us to Why.”
     “Where is Why?”
     “Farther than a great distance, closer than the nearest here.”
     “What is Why?
     “The widest whisper in the center of each ear.”
     “Why?”	

Why pierces fog.  How tries to move fog.
The fog Why enters, combines many directions, varied places in turning
	 and reencountered moments.
Spirit and fog may be the same presence — Spirit Why, fog how or how not. 
Why leaves the road.  How follows pavement, rarely away from contentment
	and its ditches.
How divides people and actions and beliefs.  Why precedes apartness.
How prefers higher levels.  Why unifies layers.
The how of poetry is linear, the Why wanders.
Poetry’s how goes in one direction, the Why turns and may intersect
	itself many times.
Why fills the page.  How prefers one edge.
The how shows.  The Why does, being Itself in unpredicted ways. 
Clever how reports.  Why exudes its own mystery. 
How accepts the fashionable, the common narrative, ordinary speech 
	towards clichés.  Why ventures from origins. 
The Why accepts fog, relishes being lost — Why from Why, in Why.
Why cannot be found in the common denominator, less a question than a
	character who plays throughout our lives. 
Unfortunately, Why? is usually answered with how. 

Nathan Whiting has danced Butoh in Japan with Min Tanaka and contemporary dance in New York; run multi-day races against international competition; illustrated books; and has recent poems in Streetcake, Quarter After Eight, The Decadent Review, and Home Planet News.

 
 

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