Nothing Poem by gershon hepner

“Nothing is the only thing
that I know anything about, ”
said Oscar Wilde. I try to bring
to nothing certainty, not doubt.

A hole is nothing, but your neck
may easily be broken it;
nothing can make you a wreck
once, finished, you begin it.

Nuthin’s plenty for me, and
I’ve plenty of it. Porgy, Bess,
remind me we can understand
nuthin’ plenty, more or less.

Learning to draw empty space,
we discover nothing is
as splendid as the sparkling space
created by champagne when fizz.


Inspired by some remarks in the TLS on November 27,2009 Grub Street irregular column:

If the thought of looming festive chaos is too burdensome, you might consult a book on Nothing. “That man’s silence is wonderful to listen to, ” Thomas Hardy said, and we have all thought, of wished for, the same. “To be a genius you have to sit around so much doing nothing”. Oscar Wilde enjoyed talking about nothing–– “it’s the only thing I know anything about”, again a recognizable sentiment. People who feel they are worth nothing think about nothing else. The American Austin O’Malley pointed out that “A hole is nothing at all, but you can break your neck in it”. These paradoxes are collected in You Don’t Have to be a Buddhist to Know Nothing by Joan Konner (Prometheus, £14.50) . The trick about being deep about Nothing is not to sound too deeply banal. We like Robert Lever’s advice to artists, “Learn how to draw empty space”, as we do the well known lines from Porgy and Bess: “I got plenty o’ nuthin’, / An’ nuthin’s plenty fo’ me”. And we have made a mental note to say at a future gathering, as if spontaneously, that someone was “so drunk he was slurring his pauses”.

11/30/09