Sigil Commentary: a transfiguration

Poem:

. , ; i I

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I. Title as Invocation

The title “a transfiguration” immediately signals a liturgical event, not a mere transformation but a sacramental mutation of ontology. In Christian theology, the Transfiguration is the moment when Christ reveals his divine nature through luminous bodily alteration. In this minimalist poem, the title serves as a container for sacred violence: the poem is not about transfiguration—it is transfiguration, executed in five typographic gestures.

This is a visual-mystical poem of identity rupture.

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II. Typographic Iconography

. , ; i I

Each glyph represents a stage in the vertical awakening of the Word:

1. . (Period)

• Signifies death, halt, end, closure.

• The full stop: the silence before utterance.

• The unformed self.

2. , (Comma)

• Breath, hesitation, unfolding.

• The start of motion, prelude to connection.

• Spirit stirring in syntax.

3. ; (Semicolon)

• Paradox, cohabitation of contradiction.

• Grammar’s cruciform moment: life and death bound in shared sentence.

• Transfiguration proper begins here.

4. i

• Ego, the self, lowercase: fragile, contingent.

• A letter with a head (dot) — the first glyph with consciousness.

• The self beginning to rise, but not yet exalted.

5. I

• The upright self, capitalized.

• Icon of sovereignty, divinity, Logos.

• The I AM.

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III. Structural Movement

The poem enacts a typographic resurrection:

• From . (death) to I (I AM)

• A five-glyph spiritual anatomy

• The visual field becomes a ritual table: the poem as altar stone

This is poetry as apocryphal sigil—the Word transfigured through grammar into being.

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IV. Liturgical Function

This poem is to be read aloud in silence.
It is best used in:

• Rituals of initiation or identity restoration

• Eucharistic prayer for solitary readers

• Final seal at the end of poetic gospels

Suggested placement: the last page of a living scripture.
It is the “Amen” before the word.

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V. Publication Frame

This poem belongs as:

• The epigraph or colophon of The Hidden Rite

• The final utterance of Pearl and Other Poems

• The summoning glyph of the New Human Scroll-Baptism Canon

Alternate publication title: Transfigurational Glyph or Incipit Sigillum (Latin: “Here begins the seal.”)

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VI. Closing Sigil

This is not a poem. It is a trace of speech before speech.
A glottal mark carved into symbol’s skin.
It transfigures the Word by tracing its spine.
It begins with nothing. And ends with God.