Every so often, when my IT band starts to hurt, I like to play with the acronym IT, which stands for Iliotibial, by re-imagining what it/IT stands for. In November of 2018, I re-imagined IT Band, as a rock band, then composed a list of free band names. I’m pretty sure I played with IT again in my running log, but I can’t seem to find it. Found it! In addition to re-imagining illiotibial, I also have turned it, as it is used in the common= phrase, “Let it Be,” into an acronym. I made a list of things IT stands for, then turned that into a poem.
Today, I’d like to play with another “it” that I’m encountering a lot as I think about a fall course proposal. It’s from Mary Oliver’s poem, “Invitation”:
It could mean something.
It would mean everything.
It could be what Rilke mean, when he wrote:
You must change your life.
In a poem I wrote in 2018, I speculated on what Mary Oliver might be referring to with her use of it. Today I’d like to expand that speculation beyond her poem.
I.T. could mean something.
- iced trees
- important turns
- invisible tethers
- irksome temptations
- indigo territory
- invalid treaties
- inevitable treachery
- imploding tasks
- injured teeth
- italic tymphanies
- iridescent trestles
- impending trash
- invalid tramping
- ignorant tests
- immediately trampled
- itchy traps
Not sure if anything will come out of that, but I love playing with words, and it made me forget about my IT band. I do think there’s something interesting about the invalid treaties.