2007/06/06 Prague
The mouth
A small gun
Here at the writers' conference (or festival whatever you wish) in Prague we, authors, speak a lot about things it might be better not to speak about, because it’s easy to become pompous and it’s even easier to become completely vulgar. Where does inspiration comes from? How does the creative process work? (When I hear the words “creative process” I feel the need to search for a small gun.)
One of the questions my panel was asked was this one: “If thought begins in the mouth where does it end?"
Maybe you have an answer.
If not that’s fine with me too, silence is a genre.
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22 comments 
Why do we assume that by posing a question there is inevitably always an answer? I Think that is a pompous expectation.
other question
I wonder what you are doing at a conference where people think thought begins in the mouth. That's my question to you, but I think keeping slilent is indeed better sometimes.scunfo
Thought begin in the mouth is , I have been told, a quote from Tristan Tzara.On the paper
A thought comes up in the mouth, ye maybe, but it ends on the paper. I do not know where thoughts come from, and i do not think that i want that question answered, but the thought goes through the pen on the paper. It is stuck on the paper and then moves to the readers mind, whoever that may be.Thoughts dont begin in the mouth. Digeston begins in the mouth. Since you are on a writers festival in Prague I would like tou ask you if you know jachim topol. According to me he´s the best czech writer for the moment and I would advise everybody to read his Mocne Prace.
I don't have an answer. Nor a question.
But a couple of thoughts spring to mouth.
I don't think
I don't think so
I don't think so I don't think so
And some more, I think, but I forgot
But a couple of thoughts spring to mouth.
I don't think
I don't think so
I don't think so I don't think so
And some more, I think, but I forgot
@arnon
I'm glad you were told 'thought begins in the mouth' is een quote from Tristan Tzara. I wouldn't like writers writing books like yours reading writers writing things like that.mouth
An answer could be that a thought will not take on a solid shape until it has been expressed e.g. through the mouth.Do you know the american expression: 'with his foot in his mouth'? I always think of these children trying to get over a high wall and the one at the top sets his foot in the other ones mouth in stead of his shoulder. I know it doesn't fit the image.
Thoughts begun in the mouth, will end in the head, where they will be processed to go to the mouth again. But differently, I think. A thought eventually never ends, but changes, and sometimes change is considered to be an end, is it not?
@Dens
So it does! Thank you.Popol
I met Topol in 1999 when I was in Prague for the translation of Blue Mondays. I have one of his books in Dutch translation somewhere in NY, I never read it. But after your recommendation I'll give it a try.Nonsensical
A thought is the result of a feeling. And a feeling is the beginning of a thought.Where it ends? It never ends.
(I'm sorry for this poetry.)
Scunfo, think again.
Gerard Jansen, the answer to this question is just another way to recoup. Just let your underbelly speak.
“If thought begins in the mouth where does it end?"
Well, I would parafrase the question like this: "If thought begins in the mouth, thinking must be like sucking dick. The ultimate question here is whether you should swallow it or spit it out. "
Well, I would parafrase the question like this: "If thought begins in the mouth, thinking must be like sucking dick. The ultimate question here is whether you should swallow it or spit it out. "
PS
Dens,I just read we drew the same 'conclusion'.
Is this the beginning of something?
Sophie B
Sophie, in your case I'd say swallow it.Jo
Belive me, i tried, but it was too bitter.Bitter
Sophie, It has to do with the food he consumed.Does a falling tree, in a surrounding without living people or animals, so that no one can hear it, make a sound? No, that sound doesn't exist.
It's the same as to thoughts; as long as they are not expressed to an other living creature, by speaking, writing, gesture, etc., thougths don't exist.
It's the same as to thoughts; as long as they are not expressed to an other living creature, by speaking, writing, gesture, etc., thougths don't exist.
Jos
I agree with you.
Untill a thought is not materialised in any way
the thought remains meaningless.
I think we should meet.
I agree with you.
Untill a thought is not materialised in any way
the thought remains meaningless.
I think we should meet.
I made a terrible mistake.
I am not Jos W. I am Vera M.
I am not Jos W. I am Vera M.
Don't worry Vera. In our thoughts, we all talk to ourselves.
Noa,
I wasn't talking to myself (even not in thoughts)
I was talking to Jos.
I wasn't talking to myself (even not in thoughts)
I was talking to Jos.
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