The Best We’ve Got

The inadequacy of language for communicating thought came to mind. The short sideways L of my computer desk has accumulated books so high that they now reach the forward-leaning lamp. Among them are six dictionaries—and that’s because I needed the lamp yesterday and moved the seventh to my writing desk which in turn sports three. The shelves behind that desk have nine more—and I’m sure I’ve missed some. And that’s just in the basement—and I mention that with suppressed irritation because I spend much time going from floor to floor fetching those that have a way of staying mobile. All told this place has four levels, and all  four house their guides to meaning.