"Coma vigil is an imprecise term that has been applied to a number of situations. In one type, the unfortunate victim has a lesion that disconnects the cerebral hemispheres from all areas below the level of the oculomotor nucleus in the brain stem. Hence the eyes can open but no other movement is possible. If the patient "hears" or receives any information, it is not possible to signal a response except by blinking (i.e. the patient is "locked in" but conscious). In the true coma vigil, the lesion is thought to be higher in the diencephalon, in the upper reaches of the seat of consciousness. Once again, the eyes are open but the patient is unconscious, does not receive most information and although appearing "alert" actually does not process any data, does not "think"."


Michael Salcman, M.D.

Protesting Too Much: Obscurantism Refined

Wikipedia offers a neat summary of obscurantism here, so I need to distinguish myself by establishing that I am not deliberately withholding knowledge from the general public. Though I am fascinated by the linguistics of political obscurantism, my main motive in addressing this topic is to deflect criticism. I am not trying to hide behind pseudo-intellectual words and outré conceits. Nevertheless, of the two general definitions offered at Wikipedia, the latter reference to vagueness makes me most vulnerable to criticism. I do not mean to be vague, only precise. Perhaps the deeper I dig for precision, the more obscure the whole’s bottom becomes. In the interest of clarity I will endeavor to put finer points on this enterprise I call Etymopoetics.

I would also argue that, although some of my writing borders on the abstruse (difficult to comprehend), I am merely using wordplay to create greater clarity through etymological collision. Obscurantism at its root evokes darkening, but like the pun, it can be used for both seriousness and humor. Also, as with the pun and irony, a deliberate duality must exist to confound expectation. Mystification begets de-mystification. The fearful symmetry between known and unknown traces its roots back to jungle instinct and celestial awe, invoking nervous laughter.

What does “etymological collision” mean to me precisely? Certainly I intend to force my readers to solve riddles based on the underlying meanings of word roots. Rather than obscure, I work hard to illuminate by choosing words that will resonate with both contemporary and antecedent meanings. Similarly, my favorite high school English teacher considered a pun to be the most essential form of humor, the deliberate confusion of meaning based on a likeness between two words. In that vein, the resultant impact from the juxtaposition of corresponding elements should evoke the essence of humor as manifest in the Vidushaka, court jester or trickster. It can also bring the hidden to the forefront.

Perhaps, if you like me, you will ride with me, and you will go beyond what you know you know, what you know you don’t know. You may even encounter what you don’t know you know and don’t know you don’t know.

“As the circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it.”
--Albert Einstein

Phantom Limbo

Prostrate before you shut me down
Laid out like a corpse autopsied
Paid an arm and a leg for release
From a vivisectional couch now lopsided

Still cannot get my balance back
Unequivocally stone silenced
One fork stuck where my done meat once was
Another semicircularly incensed

Cautery of robust tools hacked
Into me my limbs were missing
Stint unflinchingly endured pieces
Strewn about in disarray like pick-up sticks

Where memes in Jupiter’s red eye
Wrapped bands reaching critical mass
Trapped extremities on chaos’ edge
Forgot to extinguish our fitful carass

I spooked pooch screwed both oxen gored
That leg stood on hand extended
What was lost – appendage or partner –
Still feels like a fateful phantom forfended

Etymopoetics

Wherefrom etymopoetics? I cannot say they burst as Athena from Zeus' brow. I can tell you that they are akin to cognates, a portmanteau word trapped in a portmanteau world they did not create. Yet they change like pseudomorphs to suit their audience; they are the standup comics of linguistics. And the roots of your laughter burst instead from self-recognition.

"How deep or how hearty?" is the copulative question. As the words make you work for their meaning you squirrel away nutshells. Reduced to essence like a campfire's distant aroma-- presaging the crackle, the heat--your Weltanschauung emerges from cold storage to thaw. With a combination of luck and skill your Bildungsroman follows suit, as mighty oaks from little acorns grow.