Some of We and the Land That Was Never Ours

Abstract

Note: Someone was singing we are all in this world together. There were some grapes. Someone was feeding sparrows, making them perch on the thumb and eat out of the hand if they wanted any food. The sparrows preferred to eat on the ground. In memory there was a story of a French grandfather who left early in my father's life, moved to Canada, and died by falling off a horse. We were tourists. There were long lines. My mother waited in them. I sat outside and took notes. I thought about the vines that grew in France, then came as cuttings to California, then went back to France after a blight. I thought about who owned what. And divisions. And songs sung in bars. And inaugural poems. I was trying to figure out a day. I came home and used a translation machine to push these back and forth. The versions of the exchange are on the left. First and final English versions are combined on the right. Things are edited slightly. 1 We are all. We of all the small ones are. We are all. We of all the small ones are. We are in this world. We are in this world. We are together. We are together. And some of we are eating grapes. Some of we are all eating grapes. Some of we are all eating. We are all in this world today. Some of we are eating grapes today in this world. And some of we let ourselves eat grapes. In the eating of grapes. We of all the small ones are what eats grapes. In the world of grapes. Eating grapes. We of all the small ones are what eats. Some of we are all together in the grapes. We of all the small ones are today in this world. In this world. By eating grapes. To eat grapes. Some of we let ourselves eat grapes today in this world. Some of we let ourselves be all together in the grapes. In the world of the grapes. In this world. In grapes. In the grapes. In taste. In the taste. In fermentation. In the fermentation. In wine. Out of the wine. In fresh tight skin. In the fresh tight skin. In seed. Out of seed. In moisture. In the moisture. In today. In the today. We are all in this world together. We of all the small ones are together in this world. In the we are all together. In we let ourselves be all together. Some of we are eating. Some of we let ourselves eat. Some of we are all together eating grapes. Some of we let ourselves be all the grapes to be eaten together. This place. In this place. In the eating. While eating. In the grapes some of we are all eating. In all the undeniable grapes of we let us leave itself let ourselves be what eats. In the eating of grapes. By eating grapes. We are all today. We of all the small ones are today. The grapes in the eating. In the we are. In the are. In the grapes are. Eating grapes. In the we the world. In the together. Some of we are all in this world together eating grapes. 2 Some of we and the land that was never ours while we were the land's. Started from us and of the ground which was never with we while we were the ground. Some of we wore the land. Some of we carried the ground. Some of we planted grapes. Some of we were to settle. Some of we were to arrange. And the land was never ours. And the ground was never with us. And yet we were made by the land, by the grapes. We were made by the ground, by the grapes. We were eating the leaves of the land. We ate the sheets of the ground. The grapes of the land. …