THE JACK & JILL OF
TOUCH
The nursery
rhyme 'Jack and Jill' may be the most fundamental poem of Western
culture in terms of cognition theory with its emphasis on schema
and scenario. Certainly the most fundamental schema of humanity is
'Jack and Jill', boy and girl, male and female. The most
fundamental element for survival is a pail of water. The most
funadamental force which we must be overcome is gravity, our worst
catastrophe is "the Fall" and the greatest sin is male domination
of the female. Add these schema together to obtain life's
fundamental scenario. Yes indeed Jack and Jill went up the hill to
fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill
came tmubling after.
The very syntax and grammar of Jack and Jill
is at the core of Western culture. Thoughts cast in this poetic
form must be fundamental. So it was when Yeh Nai Tsi and Pina
collaborated on their next hypertext poem that they chose human
touch as the element for examination. In Western society when that
touch is unwelcome it constitutes assault and battery and when it
is welcomed it is the very essence of human love. The schema 'touch
me' and the schema 'touch me not' are determinants in every
scenario of love and survival. The Jack and Jill poem version is
automatic. Vis - vis another it is "touch me not" or touch a lot"
in any event touch with care or touch me never. If we touch but not
too much we will stay in touch forever.
Our hypertext poem
enlarges on this core poem. In the sonnet
version it is the quintessence of the romance of caress. In
the Korean sijo version it is a
pragmatic warning to temper the pain of passion with the tenderness
of love. In the Tanka version it is
presented as a form of Zen poetry. Yeh Nai Tse has produced a
version in Chinese poetry and
pictorials (certainly Michelangelo's "Hand of God" will appear. But
if this is too much at one time return to
home with mouse like touch. .
