broken englishes

by Patrick Johnston

Addishant

I)

I thought Addishant was a word

It turned though that it isn’t

But that’s not really the point

It could have been

In a different world

It might have

meant something

II)

There was a time that was known as Addishant

And the king rode out amongst his people

And they toppled him from his horse

And killed him

And allowed for him to die

In the time known as Addishant

III)

Transnistria Transmission: this looks bad… the cognitive virus known as the Mbrako Ormo Koncept seems to have mutated. It has generated a variant that we have designated Addishant 1.0. It infects the logosphere. It’s a word eater. It absorbs and replaces other words. It is highly contagious. It does not seem to show any binding preferences. All word categories seem equally at risk. A rapid containment solution is required before all written communication breaks down entirely.

I repeat: the cognitive virus known as the Mbrako Ormo Koncept seems to have mutated. It has generated a addishant that we have designated Addishant 1.0. It infects Addishant logosphere. It’s Addishant word addishant. It addishants and replaces other addishants. It is highly addishant. It does not seem to show any addishant addishant All word addishants seem addishant at addishant. A addishant addishant is addishant before all addishant addishant addishants addishant addishant. addishant addishant addishant addishant addishant addishant addishant addishant addishant addishant ADDISHANT.

Obverse Linguistics at Work in Poetry

The initial skewing of linguistic obversion occurs

Via viable recurrence

Of occurrence

Or recursion

Of words

Re-occurring obverse

To expected patterns

Of reversion

In short, to put it simply, so to speak

And not overexplain

Overindulge

Or overstate

Obversion is not subversion

Any more

Than obversity

is adversity

So

Hopefully

We all now

Have a clearer idea

Of what is intended

By obverse linguistics

At work

Subtended

ASSASSINS CREED

I am Sam-I-am.

If you please.

An assassin.

Hashishim.

Siamese.

Maim as Mai.

Ma aim’s true.

Sashimi cuts.

Raw flesh.

Miasma.

If you don’t please.

I am Sam.

Not his father.

Not his son.

I am that I am.

Hiding in plain sight

Sam

On the Infinite Generative Capacity of Language

And we could wend our

Denis Milthrop

way, along quiet

Denis Milthrop

pathways, in

Denis Milthrop

solitude,

Gently contemplating the amazing

Denis Milthrop

capacity of language

to express every

Denis Milthrop

thought.

Denis Milthrop has infinite generative capacity.

I Know Who They Are

They were saying stuff
like nyuff-nyuff-byguff.
I thought
Maybe I had had a stroke.
Or
Maybe they were Spanish people.

Maybe the world had stopped
being meaningful
to me,
but other people still understood,
or pretended to understand,
each other.

And just barked their syllables
and nodded along,
hoping that nobody would suspect
that they were as much in the dark
as I am.

Or maybe they were
just
Spaniards.

Photo of Patrick Johnston

BIO: Patrick Johnston is an Anglo-Australian writer and former professor of psychology and neuroscience. His work has appeared in The Louisville Review, Eastern Iowa Review, Thin Air Magazine, and Litro Magazine USA, among others, and has received a Pushcart Prize nomination. He is the author of the novel The Gaps Between the Stories. He lives nomadically and writes at dr-patrick-johnston.com.