Songs by Holly Tannen: Deconstruct

Deconstruct, that's our new Postmodern song
Deconstruct, as through school we slog along,
Writing seven volumes on the letter L
Using 40-letter words that we can't spell.

Deconstruct, decontextualize that text
Deconstruct, leave your enemies perplexed.
Keep those semiotics hidden where you're sure they won't be found
And be careful not to gambol where the metaphors abound
They are tiny rosebuds waiting to be plucked *
Deconstruct!

Deconstruct, that's the literati's creed
Deconstruct, cognitize in word and deed
Don't problematize your sister, that's not nice
Unless it's a dialectical device

Deconstruct, obfuscation don't eschew
There's no need, since there's no one reading you
If you're looking for a paradigm of new and different kind
And you come across a linguist who is similarly inclined,
Don't get nervous, don't get flustered, don't get ---------
Deconstruct


*	For an analysis of the traditional connotations of the rose, see Barre Toelken, Morning Dew and Roses: Nuance, Metaphor, and Meaning in Folksongs (U. Illinois Press, 1995)