ABSTRACT
A too quick reading suggests that the poem posits the ultimate victory of writing. Not only do the lines "the only winner is writing" stand out, but the word "writing" lies at the exact center — the seventh line — of the thirteen-line poem. But note that toward the end Dimoula slips in the lines "expertly forged as / lasting", which change everything. Nothing in fact lasts, and the "closemouthed" piece of paper — an accomplice to the crime because it receives and is therefore the "fence" of the plagiary — is not readily going to reveal the secret of the deception. Many of Dimoula's poems work through layers of illusion in an attempt to lay truth bare. This is especially valid for her metaphysical poetry, which takes on or, rather, plays with the age-old questions of philosophy. The hopelessness expressed in the last line is typical, but note also that it is dryly funny.
