Permanently

Kenneth Koch presents a “love” poem (that is a poem about love), titled “Permanently”. Koch presents a personification of language which must be taken into account during the last stanza which reflects on his love. Ultimately the adjective in the poem is lost. The description, the emotion of language is lost. In our language we use adjectives to depict and clarify, as well as we can, the images in our own minds. However, here Koch proclaims them lost. He then continues, “So am I lost in your eyes, ears, nose, and throat.” One could read this as a moment of romantic bliss, but according to the loss depicted by the adjective unto which Koch has likened this loss it is not romantic bliss he speaks of. Instead Koch is depicting the inability of the individual to move past the physical into an actual communication of selves. He is lost, unable to find the other self of his individual, just as the adjective is lost during communication of language. Therefore, the kiss, the physical barrier, cannot be undone, “until the destruction of language.” This is because if language does not exist then these communication barriers will not exist either. Ironically if language was destroyed then these individuals would not be able to know of “the self” and therefore could not understand the concept of romance. HA!