John: No language, no meaning. Eric: Can we say that, without language, objects are their own meaning? John Ashbery seems to be saying something like this in his famous poem, copied below. (Check out the second and third stanzas particularly.) _____ Some Trees by John Ashbery These are amazing: each Joining a neighbor, as though speech Were a still performance. Arranging by chance To meet as far this morning From the world as agreeing With it, you and I Are suddenly what the trees try To tell us we are: That their merely being there Means something; that soon We may touch, love, explain. And glad not to have invented Some comeliness, we are surrounded: A silence already filled with noises, A canvas on which emerges A chorus of smiles, a winter morning. Place in a puzzling light, and moving, Our days put on such reticence These accents seem their own defense. ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html