McClure-- Flomenbaum

            McClure uses “beast language” in many interesting ways throughout Ghost Tantras. There are many ways for a reader to read this language and extract meaning from it. On the most basic level, there is a difference between the beast language and the English used in these poems. At first, it reminded me of a man shifting from a beast to a human and back. Through the English I inferred that this man-beast was looking for love, perhaps a long lost love or love in general. This understanding, to me, is the most basic way to read this writing because it does not look at the beast language and attempt to dissect it, but rather looks at it as an entire entity; it does not matter what is being said or the specific words, it just matters that it is not English. This understanding is very single tracked and puts English at a higher level. It is almost as if the reader is saying that any other language but English is unimportant, which is an important point to note.
            The next kind of understanding is when one looks at the connection between the English and the beast language and tries to understand a deeper connection between the two. For example, on page 49, if one glances at the poem, it seems as though there is one section of English and another, distinct one of the beast language. This relationship is very different than the earlier poems that were almost entirely beast language with maybe one or two distinctly English words. McClure also allows the beast language to melt almost seamlessly into English. This can also be seen in poem 49, where beast language is integrated into otherwise entirely English sentences, where it states, “thy trillionic multitude of grahh, vhooshes, and silences” (Mcclure, 49). Though one cannot look up these words in a dictionary, to some extent the reader is able to understand what “grahh” and “vhooshes” at least with the understanding that they somehow relate to silences. In order to fall into this sort of understanding, the reader must learn to give up some control and some expectations. If one reads these poems with the idea that it is nonsense and that it does not matter what the relationship is, the reader will not be able to see these connections or understand them on a deeper level.
            Another form of understanding this language can be in regards to the beast language itself. When comparing different poems and the beast language utilized, it is clear that there are many similar sounds and some sounds roll together easier than others; there are some words that are more difficult to pronounce than others. For example, in poem 48, the line “fahr dah-thorreept vayssee wharr” would be more difficult to pronounce and make flow together than the line “GOOOOOOR! GOOOOOOOOOO!” from the first poem. While there are easier words in later poems and more difficult words in the earlier poems, for the most part it seems as though the beast language is evolving and becoming more sophisticated as the poems continue. In many ways, this mimics the English language and its evolution. McClure is making a point that English is not a unique language in its evolution and, in contrast to the first level of understanding these poems, is not the be-all and end-all of languages.