Wednesday, February 9, 2022

Let them scratch wherever they may itch

Let them scratch wherever they may itch

Giorgio Agamben, Quodlibet, January 26, 2022

They won’t say: the times were dark,
Rather: why were their poets silent?


Nevertheless, all falsehood is set aside,
let all that you have seen be manifest,
and let them scratch wherever they may itch.
For if, at the first taste, your words molest,
they will, when they have been digested, end
as living nourishment.


Somewhere there is a sheet on which the names of those who, in a world of lies, testified the truth are listed. This sheet exists, but it is illegible. Then there is another sheet, perfectly legible, which records the same names: it is in the hands of police officials and journalists.

M. C. Escher, Drawing Hands, 1948. Courtesy of WikiArt.

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