You Need the Dough Too Much

There had to be something before this,
And then where do you draw the line? Paste,
Pasta, impasto—it’s difficult.

How can you say there is no meaning
At this point, but at this point there is?
How are you reading this line? Perhaps

You’re parsing it in the air. So there.
Pastry, pâté, pastos—what a mess
Of foods like glues and of glues like foods.

How can you say the original
Meaning meant something else completely?
The original meaning of what?

It’s a question of complexity
And a question of taxonomy
And your fondness for dichotomies—

Meaning, nonsense. This line means something
But this one doesn’t. Where did you draw
This line? It’s not at all obvious

At what point a complex chemical
System can be said to mean something.
Lots of different kinds of molecules,

They’re all in a sort of mush. They’re all
More or less pasted together, quashed
And smeared, troweled together, meaning

What? You’re looking for meaning’s meaning,
Meaning’s signature hidden in words,
Working words with histories. Not there.