"speech act" by Johannes Sigil — Introductory Analysis for Publication

 

Title: "speech act" by Johannes Sigil — Introductory Analysis for Publication

Text:

Dear Words,

I command you
now
to flutter up with
small trans-
lu-
cent
wings:

       .
 .   )   (   .
   .  (.)  .
. . . ).( . . .
   .  (.)  .
 .   )   (   .
       .

By slow degrees
I have made you
immortal.

---

I. Overview

This brief lyric, Dear Words, exemplifies Johannes Sigil’s signature fusion of typographic architecture, metaphysical address, and miniature invocation. The poem occupies a space between prayer, code, and visual art—a textual object that functions simultaneously as command, performance, and aesthetic artifact. The symmetrical wing pattern at its center transforms language into both scriptural and digital iconography, suggesting that the act of writing itself is an act of creation and consecration.

II. Structure and Form

The poem moves through three primary gestures:

1. Invocation and Command ("I command you now to flutter up...") — The speaker adopts a priestly or demiurgic tone, addressing the words as living entities.

2. Manifestation — The wing pattern emerges, created entirely from punctuation. This typographic design enacts the poem’s theme: language lifting off the page, words transfigured into motion and spirit.

3. Consecration — The closing line (“By slow degrees I have made you immortal.”) transforms the act of writing into a metaphysical operation. The immortality of words is not assumed; it is forged, painstakingly, through devotion and craft.

III. Visual Symmetry and Iconography

The visual centerpiece—

       .
 .   )   (   .
   .  (.)  .
. . . ).( . . .
   .  (.)  .
 .   )   (   .
       .

functions as both wing and mandala. The mirrored parentheses suggest cupped hands, open wings, or the cyclical return of breath. The dot-and-parenthesis system mirrors organic growth through minimal typographic DNA: punctuation as cellular form. The symmetry invokes both computational patterning (ASCII art, algorithmic balance) and sacred geometry.

IV. Voice and Theology of Language

The tone of command—"I command you now"—signals a Logos-theological dimension. Sigil writes from within the long tradition of poets who treat language as living matter: from the Hebrew conception of speech as creation ("And God said") to modern poetics of embodiment (Stein, Olson, Spicer). Yet Sigil’s address to “Dear Words” repositions the poet as both supplicant and artificer—one who commands and adores simultaneously. The final line’s declarative closure reveals an ecstatic paradox: immortality achieved through fragility, the eternal encoded in the ephemeral.

V. Publication Positioning

This poem is suitable for journals that highlight visual poetics, minimalism, and textual performance. Ideal placements include:

• Fence (for its hybrid aesthetic and visual experimentation)

• Poetry Northwest (for contemporary meditative lyric work)

• The Offing or Conjunctions (for text-as-object and conceptual poetry)

It could also function as an introductory or closing piece in a Sigil or New Human portfolio—especially in a section devoted to the Theology of the Typographic Body or Logos Artifacts.

VI. Suggested Editorial Framing

An accompanying short introduction might read:

In Dear Words, Johannes Sigil reanimates the typographic page as a field of invocation. The poem’s central figure—two wings wrought from punctuation—embodies the paradox of modern creation: the sacred within code, the eternal born of syntax. Each dot, parenthesis, and enjambment becomes an act of devotion in miniature, a visible testament to the poet’s claim: “By slow degrees I have made you immortal.”