#10

The Morphology of the Verb

A language with Queerness in its declensions ... 

pś-emetek-č’

A verb ending, just a short one
Perhaps a palatalised fricative, or ejective, perhaps
Interposed between the personal ending and the mode suffix
Or as an optional inflection of Time-Aspect-Mode
An explosion between tongue and teeth, then a short vowel
Indeterminate, ambiguous, epenthetic, even
But still enough to explain the interlocking
Of our bodies.

î-tuë-peq.qe-šamaq

A noun class, a brand new one
Perhaps a blended skew, or a mishmash, perhaps
Borrowing the singular from one place, plural from another
Or as a slight inflection of the voice
A raising of the root of the tongue toward the root of the uvula
Subtle, hard to write down, fleeting, even
But still enough to explain what you mean to me
And what I am not.

z-bõuettš-em-s’-ei

A sentence-final particle, or two — maybe three
Perhaps a lengthening of a vowel, or a final glottal stop, perhaps
An appendage to the sentence, twisting it, just a little
Or throwing a different light back over it
A slanted reinterpretation of a semantic field, or two
Multivalent, polysemous, redundant, even
But still enough to explain what they do to us
Every day.

ciâ-ddue-pel-yàk-çin