The Figure Residing in the Poem

Abstract

A poem is not only the ensemble of words or phrases that emit messages but also occupied space that is significant for this very reason. To observe it in its distribution implies considering it as a semiotic entity that would be relevant to it and unique insofar as it is a phenomenon of writing and writing dissolves into space. Seeing things in this manner implies at the same time to step back with respect to the most common critical practice, that of a “saying” and even of more superior practices such as “wanting to say” and even more so that of “what words do” and of the action of the letter.

In a semiotic exercise, stripping the poem of words and recovering its profile, configurations are observed that are similar to others of painting and architecture. Seeing it in this way distinguishes the character of the production of meaning, which would have to be pursued in relation to a poem.