addressing the ‘anCient quarreL’pause in the flow of life, a perspective from which to view the world, and a position
offered on that view. an example of this can be seen in the poem ‘The eternity knot’:
a twist of soft thread
gathers tangles
at the back
of the dusty kitchen drawer.
a figure- eight of string;
from streng, its root;
like strength. You know:
the tie that binds,
the safety line,
the knotty problem.
it’s the simplest sign.
it’s your baby curls
clipped, and twined,
and gently laid in mama’s dresser drawer.
soft hemp; or is it coir?
it’s all the same to me
but see the care
that braids those blonde threads into time.
now what twists in your gut?
What hangman’s rope from dickens
sways though disturbed- sleep nights?- some twisted symbol, da capo;
the fugue starts
again / and again / and again.
it was plato, or a sanskrit scholar,
said a figure- eight means forever.
You can survive it once, twice,
even seven times;
and then you’re done.
(Webb 2004: 32)
This poem was one of several products of a research project focused on the properties
of being. generated by questions associated with the nature of time and substance,
it is an attempt to perceive and describe both the thing itself (the string) and ideas
about the thing (in this case, being and time). Research methods employed include
observation and reflection, archival investigation into related works of literature and
philosophy, and practice- led work on imagery, lineation and expression. it is not an
argument, but a way of seeing; still, it does incorporate a hypothesis about experiential
reality – in this instance, the materiality of the experienced world and the problem of
time and memory.
The non- transparent nature of the knowledge work that was involved in the making
of a piece of creative writing may render it difficult to establish to what extent it can be
said to contribute to knowledge, as opposed to it being simply a creative work. This is