Splitting the Infinitive

for Ivor Indyk

Editing The House of Youssef, Ivor and I discussed how I split the infinitive.

to not go

vs.

not to go

I prefer the former, the sound of it.

When we meet, I tell Ivor this infinitive and its splitting comes up in my current edits. Some days, it feels like we’re splitting an atom rather than playing around with literary conventions, and there’s no harm done with pushing away the rules that don’t work.

 What I once did deliberately, I now do consciously, and it is a secret wink at Mr. Indyk.

 We discuss sentences when we meet. He explores the following:

to go slowly

or to slowly go

This is a discussion that unhooks a structure bolted in my mind.

I tell Ivor two other variations.

slowly to go

and go to slowly

I have realised I don’t care what the rules are. Mostly I care for language dreaming and the sounds of poetry.