Stammer
by K. Satchidanandan
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In this thought-provoking poem, K. Satchidanandan reimagines stammering not as a handicap but as 'a mode of speech'. He defines stammer as 'the silence that falls / between the word and its meaning', just as lameness is the silence between the word and the deed. He raises playful yet profound questions, did stammer come before language or after it? Is it a dialect or a language of its own?, questions that make even linguists stammer. Each time we stammer, he says, we are 'offering a sacrifice / to the God of meanings'. When a whole people stammer, stammer becomes their mother tongue, 'just as it is with us now', hinting at the silencing of a people who cannot fully speak their truth. Finally the poet imagines that even God must have stammered when He created man; that is why all human words carry different meanings, and everything man utters, from his prayers to his commands, stammers, 'like poetry'. The poem transforms a supposed defect into a metaphor for the gap between expression and meaning, and for poetry itself.
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'Stammer' by K. Satchidanandan is a short free-verse poem that turns a supposed speech defect into a profound metaphor. The poet insists at the outset: 'Stammer is no handicap. / It is a mode of speech.'
Stammer as silence
The poet defines stammer as 'the silence that falls / between the word and its meaning', comparing it to lameness, which is 'the silence that falls / between the word and the deed'. Stammer thus becomes the gap between what we say and what we truly mean.
Questions that make linguists stammer
He raises teasing, philosophical questions: 'Did stammer precede language / or succeed it? Is it only a dialect or / a language itself?' These questions, he says, 'make / the linguists stammer'. Each time we stammer, 'we are offering a sacrifice / to the God of meanings.'
When a whole people stammer
'When a whole people stammer,' the poet writes, 'stammer becomes their mother tongue; / just as it is with us now.' This hints at a whole community that cannot fully speak its truth, a silencing that has become their common condition.
Even God stammered
Finally the poet imagines that 'God too must have stammered / when He created man.' That, he says, is why all the words of man carry different meanings, and why everything man utters, 'from his prayers to his commands', stammers, 'like poetry'. The poem elevates stammer into a symbol of the imperfect, meaning-laden and poetic nature of all human speech.