Study Series: Milton Läufer’s “God”

Milton Laufer’s “God” was published in Taper #1, it is a minimalist generation which talks about belief. First it generates two stanzas which describe “God” as a thing that measures an abstract concept. The speaker is stating their non-beliefs, the negativity they feel surrounding the abstract concepts that “God” measures. And the stanza that has a belief is themselves, “I just believe in me / [clouds] and me.” Which is also sometimes ironic, since the word bank is the same, you might get things like “I don’t believe in clouds” with a following “I just believe in me / clouds and me” While this might be an effect of the size constraint of the program (calling for less or smaller word banks), it works well with the theme of concepts. Placing “God” as a guide for what meaning is behind the words, both negative and positive. And ultimately the self is the only known thing, outside of any abstract language, “I just believe in me” is an absolute statement, we know what the self is.

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