[Matt Q]

Hi Tony,

Lots to like here, including how the poem riffs of the Heidegger quote. It's a very long time since I read Heidegger, but I recognise some of the themes, the loss of gods motif, things, being, nothingness. I particularly like the line, "What’s a being / who’s made of things to make of these things?"

I do wonder if maybe the last line could be stronger. The closing "lists of lists" seems to depart somewhat from what precedes.

I preferred "insect" to "fireflies". Insect has interesting associations, like "alien/other" and "insignificant", that "firefly" loses.

I also much preferred, "the why / of nothing born as things" to the (to me) less complex and less interesting "the why / I seek in nothingness". The latter can also be read as something like, "the why I seek in oblivion", suggesting, drink maybe, or sleep. Do you want that meaning?

L11 strikes me as hexameter:

be|ings we | invent | ed to dream | us up. | Here lies

If so, I guess one possibility might be: "beings we dreamed to dream us up" or the less regular, "beings we dreamt up to dream us up".

best,

Matt