WikiLeaks contains an overwhelming amount of language. The language overwhelms. I find it hard to describe certain events because I was not there. I did not witness the events firsthand, but I witness the overwhelming amount of language that surrounds those events. The language is present everywhere, before and during and after and during still. The language is archived, analyzed, read, taken apart, hidden and stored. I witness these events through language. Too, the language is representative of a state. The language leaks from one place to another, to a place where there is already an overwhelming amount of language. There are those who witnessed such events firsthand, who tried to cause certain events and were found with limited resources to accomplish these tasks. There is a journalist who wanted to take a picture of the rainbow but was unable to because of the quality of his mobile phone. I do not see the same rainbow; I see another. I also see the word for rainbow. Because of the many difficulties I already found myself mired by, I too limited my resources, limited the tools at my disposal, namely language. In this poem, I work with a limited amount of language, or, a limited vocabulary. With this vocabulary, I can say many things. But with this vocabulary, there are many other things I still cannot say. This is the state of language, the state of a revolution, the state of WikiLeaks.
Doorstep
Is it tomorrow on the doorstep?
I can hear his hands, hands of the proud leader of a proud nation
His hands do not affect God
But God is operating from outside the spheres of lament
Has the role as moderate interlocutor and is jealous and sensitive
We should prepare for confrontation through isolation
God is convinced of tomorrow
Consider that Mubarak is 81 years old and in reasonably good health
He is in reasonably good health
He has a hearing deficit in his left ear
This is almost true
It is said that his most notable problem is a hearing deficit in his left ear
His deficit allows his ear to hear the soil he will be buried under
I will not be separated from this soil until I am buried underneath it
He lamented, is not one to lose sleep over hands
Hands that confront insistence indefinitely
We have given confessions
Confessions that it is not tomorrow
Hands holding confessions separately
God cannot truly speak for him
Still we hear his hands
I will not be separated from this soil until I am buried underneath it
The revolution starts tomorrow
The doorstep is heavy
Tomorrow is not related to the soil
Is not related to the warmth under the soil
Consider the heavy doorstep and the hands
Tomorrow is holding hands
Tomorrow is holding
Heavy
The application of a law is heavy, is tomorrow
Specific areas at specific times are heavy
The strategic dichotomy is heavy
Confessions in large numbers
In large hands
These cases are not offensive
These cases are not related
These cases are approximately in connection with current investigations
No one in Egypt has any certainty about who will eventually succeed Mubarak
Nor under what circumstance
God is not one to lose sleep over strategic tactics
Detained hands remain
Holding until tomorrow
Until I am buried underneath the revolution
Until I am buried underneath the doorstep
This is the order
Ask about the surrogates
He is awaiting recent actions
These cases express progress
Consider that we exist for progress
Consider the gestures of the hands
Actions unsettle
The relationship is on solid ground and they share the soil as a threat
Or, the soil as a deficit he cannot hear
He is one of many surrogates
Consider that Egypt continues to be a major regional, economic, political, and cultural power
Because bread continues to grow
Because of the conditionality of hands
Because the potential for access grows into tomorrow
The next presidential elections are scheduled
If Mubarak is still alive it is likely that he will run again
There were bread riots in 2009 for the first time since 1977
Tomorrow is a new initiative, a new conditionality
The doorstep is perceived to be heavy
Mubarak hates interference in politics
He can point to the chaos of a gathering
These are difficulties of gathering
Movement is restricted by the order of his hands
Movement is dissolved but is awaiting a circumspect role
Movement can be modified to maintain stability
Consider it orally or in writing
The law authorizes surveillance of personal messages and confiscation of publications
The writing is personal
The law criminalizes the writing, dissolves the writing once it is convened
Hands carry out the order, place restrictions
Hands are gathering separately
Does the writing threaten public order?
Does the writing threaten the surrogates?
When is tomorrow?
How will the Administration approach the issue?
How can the Administration use his stature and credibility?
Revolution is not credible
Revolutions are surrogates
The revolution starts tomorrow
The writing can only be modified by the president
The writing has been used up, is awaiting orders
The writing will not be separated from the soil
It will draw a sense of warmth from the soil
It will lament the use of soil, the downfall of soil
The doorstep is heavy, will not be separated, will not be separated from the soil
If the revolution starts tomorrow
How do you suggest we coordinate our efforts?
What is our plan for tomorrow?
It will retaliate if these actions continue
What is it?
What is the image of tomorrow?
They are in a game of go-between
They expect to fail
They expect to open the door
But the doorstep is heavy
—Janice Lee
WikiLeaks links
http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/05/09CAIRO874.html mirror 1 mirror 2
http://wikileaks.org/cable/2010/01/10CAIRO64.html mirror 1 mirror 2
Bio
Janice Lee is a writer, artist, editor and curator. She is interested in the relationships between metaphors of consciousness, theoretical neuroscience and experimental narrative. Her work can be found in Big Toe Review, Zafusy, antennae, sidebrow, Action, Yes, Joyland, Luvina, Everyday Genius, elimae, Black Warrior Review and elsewhere. She is the author of KEROTAKIS (Dog Horn Press, 2010), a multidisciplinary exploration of cyborgs, brains, and the stakes of consciousness, Daughter (Jaded Ibis, 2011) and a chapbook Red Trees. She holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the California Institute of the Arts and currently lives in Los Angeles where she is co-editor of the online journal [out of nothing] and co-founder of the interdisciplinary arts organization Strophe.
Artist Info
janicel.com