The End Of Becoming Poem by Paul Hartal

“Change is constant”, she said.
She paused for a second
and then added:
“Nothing really stops,
or stands still,
nothing comes to an end.
There is only becoming.”

“But things do stop.
Things do come to an end”,
he objected.

She gave him a smile.
“Oh, you have to prove that.”

“Well, just take a look
at this verse”, he said.

“ All right”, she said,
“on occasion, it might look
that the opposite
of a great truth is also true;
but this in itself
also could turn out
as just another illusion.”

“Would you care being
more specific about
this alleged illusion?

“The illusion here
stems from the fallacy
of Aristotelian logic,
that if something is right
it cannot be wrong,
and vice versa.
However,
we have to transcend
the logic of black
and white”.

“I am still waiting
for your point”, he said.

“Well, in one way
or another,
this poem challenges
its own postures.
Yet the contradiction
in it is just an illusion,
because the opposite views
in the verse lead us
to a dialectical tension,
intrinsic to the fault line
of discontinuity, fracturing
the crust of logic.”

“I am still waiting
for your point”,
he snapped out.

“All right”, she said.
“Now look! A verse
needs an audience.
It needs readers.
And, mind you, readers
will experience, interpret
and interact with a poem
in different ways.
Furthermore, the medium
is the message.
The poem can change
its typography, its format.
A poem also might be edited,
and revised.
Besides, it can be
in handwriting,
or published digitally
online and in print.
So, a verse
is a dynamically evolving
thing, which is
in a permanent process.
of becoming.”