The Broken World

One thing can be another
Thing, wrote Cormac McCarthy,
Calling this root the simple

Understanding. Well, yes, but.
One thing being another
Presupposes two things,

That one thing’s not another,
Thus there are at least two things,
Which aren’t each other but both

Equals in some thinginess,
What it is to be a thing.
All this has to come before

The simple understanding.
Being things shatters the world.