--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In Maureen Owen's perfectly titled…" description: "\"In Maureen Owen's perfectly titled Erosion's Pull, words and lines map, unmap, and revamp our everyday postcontemporary geographies: ironies and ambigu..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/303/susan-howe-36793_ambiguity_in-maureen-owen-s-perfectly-titled-erosi_2631123.png" --- # In Maureen Owen's perfectly titled Erosion's Pull, words… ![“In Maureen Owen's perfectly titled Erosion's Pull, words and lines map, unmap, and revamp our everyday postcontemporary geographies: ironies and ambiguities, surrealistic conundrums, kaleidoscopic comedies, puzzlements, certain and uncertain loves and losses.” quote by Susan Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/303/susan-howe-36793_ambiguity_in-maureen-owen-s-perfectly-titled-erosi_2631123.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/303/susan-howe-36793_ambiguity_in-maureen-owen-s-perfectly-titled-erosi_2631123.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/303/susan-howe-36793_ambiguity_in-maureen-owen-s-perfectly-titled-erosi_2631123.png) > “In Maureen Owen's perfectly titled Erosion's Pull, words and lines map, unmap, and revamp our everyday postcontemporary geographies: ironies and ambiguities, surrealistic conundrums, kaleidoscopic comedies, puzzlements, certain and uncertain loves and losses.” [Susan Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-howe/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The poem explores how language reshapes our perception of modern spaces, revealing hidden ironies and shifting meanings. **In simple terms:** Words reshape how we see the world. Key Takeaway Notice how language changes your view of places. Themes language perception modernity irony identity Mood thoughtful introspective Type literary analytical When to use this quote - urban planning - literary analysis - personal reflection - creative writing Key Concepts postmodernism semiotics spatial theory Questions to Reflect On - How does language alter your sense of place? - What ambiguities do you notice in everyday maps? A Different Perspective The complexity may overwhelm some readers. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ambiguity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambiguity/) [Comedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/comedy/) [Conundrums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conundrums/) [Erosion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/erosion/) [Everyday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/everyday/) [Geography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/geography/) [Irony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/irony/) [Loss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loss/) [Love and loss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love-and-loss/) ## Related quotes > [“what do you call/that space between the dark geographies of sex?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natasha-trethaway/what-do-you-call-that-space-between-the-dark-geographies-of-sex/) Natasha Trethaway > [I did not and do not think of the solidity-liquidity conundrum as a dichotomy; I view those two conditions as a couple locked, inseparably,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zygmunt-bauman/i-did-not-and-do-not-think-of-the-solidity-liquidity-conundrum-as-a/) [Zygmunt Bauman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zygmunt-bauman/) > [Americans have an interesting conundrum, a black and white line: You're on one side or the other of Puritanism or licentiousness. But that gray…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-lane/americans-have-an-interesting-conundrum-a-black-and-white-line-you-re/) [Diane Lane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-lane/) > [Competition is a moral problem and an emotional tangle and a political conundrum.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/valerie-miner/competition-is-a-moral-problem-and-an-emotional-tangle-and-a/) Valerie Miner > [ There's so much going on in Andrei \[Bolkonsky\]. He's wrangling with these big existential conundrums, and he tries out different routes to fulfillment. He… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-norton/there-s-so-much-going-on-in-andrei-bolkonsky-he-s-wrangling-with/) [James Norton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-norton/) > [Ursula craved solitude but she hated loneliness, a conundrum that she couldn’t even begin to solve.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-atkinson/ursula-craved-solitude-but-she-hated-loneliness-a-conundrum-that-she/) [Kate Atkinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-atkinson/) > [Most of us don't have mothers who blazed a trail for us--at least, not all the way. Coming of age before or during the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-roiphe/most-of-us-don-t-have-mothers-who-blazed-a-trail-for-us-at-least-not/) [Anne Roiphe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-roiphe/) > [I'm a conundrum. Or an enigma. I forget which.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-owen/i-m-a-conundrum-or-an-enigma-i-forget-which/) [James A. Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-owen/) > [I think it's a conundrum. If we have no laws on this, people take it to one extension further, does it have to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rand-paul/i-think-it-s-a-conundrum-if-we-have-no-laws-on-this-people-take-it-to/) [Rand Paul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rand-paul/) > [The overflow of big money in politics drowns out the voices of everyday people. That is part of the conundrum in America: The more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nina-turner/the-overflow-of-big-money-in-politics-drowns-out-the-voices-of/) [Nina Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nina-turner/) > [The ... problem that confronts homosexuals is that they set out to win the love of a "real" man. If they succeed, they fail.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/quentin-crisp/the-problem-that-confronts-homosexuals-is-that-they-set-out-to-win/) [Quentin Crisp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/quentin-crisp/) > [“If you were offered the chance to live your own life again, would you seize the opportunity? The only real philosophical answer is automatically…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/if-you-were-offered-the-chance-to-live-your-own-life-again-would-you/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [The conundrum that I face on a daily basis is that I have two sons who have grown up watching 'The Simpsons,' so they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-groening/the-conundrum-that-i-face-on-a-daily-basis-is-that-i-have-two-sons/) [Matt Groening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-groening/) > [I think that today, more so than ever, corporate responsibility is the best strategic as well as financial path that most businesses can follow.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-hollender/i-think-that-today-more-so-than-ever-corporate-responsibility-is-the/) [Jeffrey Hollender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-hollender/) > [We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/we-are-now-faced-with-the-fact-my-friends-that-tomorrow-is-today-we-2/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) ## More by Susan Howe > [Whose order is shut inside the structure of a sentence?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-howe/whose-order-is-shut-inside-the-structure-of-a-sentence/) [Susan Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-howe/) > [Soundwaves. It’s the difference between one stillness and another stillness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-howe/soundwaves-it-s-the-difference-between-one-stillness-and-another/) [Susan Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-howe/) > [There’s a level at which words are spirit and paper is skin. That’s the fascination of archives. There’s still a bodily trace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-howe/there-s-a-level-at-which-words-are-spirit-and-paper-is-skin-that-s/) [Susan Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-howe/) > [“We are all clothed with fleece of sheep I keep saying as if I were singing as these words do. Throw a shawl over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-howe/we-are-all-clothed-with-fleece-of-sheep-i-keep-saying-as-if-i-were/) [Susan Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-howe/) > [If history is a record of survivors, Poetry shelters other voices.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-howe/if-history-is-a-record-of-survivors-poetry-shelters-other-voices/) [Susan Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-howe/) > [A poem is an invocation, rebellious return to the blessedness of beginning again, wandering free in pure process of forgetting and finding.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-howe/a-poem-is-an-invocation-rebellious-return-to-the-blessedness-of/) [Susan Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-howe/) > [“we that were wood when that wide wood was in a physical Universe playing with words bark be my limbs my hair be leaf…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-howe/we-that-were-wood-when-that-wide-wood-was-in-a-physical-universe/) [Susan Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-howe/) > [I often think of the space of a page as a stage, with words, letters, syllable characters moving across.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-howe/i-often-think-of-the-space-of-a-page-as-a-stage-with-words-letters/) [Susan Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-howe/) > [“God was true everything was a mother's role in childhood Someone was in that garden each knowing the other to be entirely inasmuch what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-howe/god-was-true-everything-was-a-mother-s-role-in-childhood-someone-was/) [Susan Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-howe/) > [Herman Melville is not comforting. Emily Dickinson isn’t either. Maybe their work is too hungry for comfort, or just too vivid for comfort. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-howe/herman-melville-is-not-comforting-emily-dickinson-isn-t-either-maybe/) [Susan Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-howe/) > [“Now faith is not what we hereafter have we have a world resting on nothing Rest was never more than abstract since it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-howe/now-faith-is-not-what-we-hereafter-have-we-have-a-world-resting-on/) [Susan Howe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-howe/) [Explore all 12 Susan Howe quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-howe/) ## More Ambiguity quotes > [The position is clear - there is no ambiguity in Sinn Fein's position. We, along with all the other parties, have signed up to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-mcguinness/the-position-is-clear-there-is-no-ambiguity-in-sinn-fein-s-position/) [Martin McGuinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-mcguinness/) > [Ambiguity is necessary in some of my stories, not in all. In those, it certainly contributes to the richness of the story. I doubt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-wolfe/ambiguity-is-necessary-in-some-of-my-stories-not-in-all-in-those-it/) [Gene Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-wolfe/) > [During the Cold War, we lived in coded times when it wasn't easy and there were shades of grey and ambiguity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-le-carre/during-the-cold-war-we-lived-in-coded-times-when-it-wasn-t-easy-and/) [John le Carre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-le-carre/) > [You cannot grow in the integrative dance of action and contemplation without a strong tolerance for ambiguity, an ability to allow, forgive, and contain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/you-cannot-grow-in-the-integrative-dance-of-action-and-contemplation/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [I blame my grandfather 100 percent for his oldest son's death. I don't think there's any ambiguity there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-l-trump/i-blame-my-grandfather-100-percent-for-his-oldest-son-s-death-i-don-t/) [Mary L. Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-l-trump/) > [I think the relationship between social-dominance orientation in people and the extent to which they're made uncomfortable by ambiguity and novelty is really important.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-sapolsky/i-think-the-relationship-between-social-dominance-orientation-in/) [Robert Sapolsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-sapolsky/) > [Yet again, an ancient answer echoes across the centuries: Listen! Listen to stories! For what stories do, above all else, is hold up a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-kurtz/yet-again-an-ancient-answer-echoes-across-the-centuries-listen-listen/) [Ernest Kurtz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-kurtz/) > [My path to wisdom began when I stopped pretending to know things I didn't know. When I explicitly admitted to the limits of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tucker-max/my-path-to-wisdom-began-when-i-stopped-pretending-to-know-things-i/) [Tucker Max](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tucker-max/) > [If there is a single tragic flaw that mars our biggest enterprises, it is conservatism - the failure to fail, and fail big, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-peters/if-there-is-a-single-tragic-flaw-that-mars-our-biggest-enterprises-it/) [Tom Peters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-peters/) > [In order to be as free as I possibly can, in my own imagination, I can't take positions that are closed. Everything I've ever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/in-order-to-be-as-free-as-i-possibly-can-in-my-own-imagination-i-can/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [I've always been drawn to ambiguity in pop music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-furman/i-ve-always-been-drawn-to-ambiguity-in-pop-music/) [Ezra Furman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-furman/) > [I believe that we can still have a genre of scientific books suitable for and accessible alike to professionals and interested laypeople. The concepts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/i-believe-that-we-can-still-have-a-genre-of-scientific-books-suitable/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [I am in the utmost perplexity, yand have wished a hundred times, that if there is a A God, nature would manifest him without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blaise-pascal/i-am-in-the-utmost-perplexity-yand-have-wished-a-hundred-times-that/) [Blaise Pascal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blaise-pascal/) > [There's a lot of ambiguity in life, and so often, our art is very neatly wrapped up at the end, when our lives never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carrie-coon/there-s-a-lot-of-ambiguity-in-life-and-so-often-our-art-is-very/) [Carrie Coon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carrie-coon/) > [“Man must not attempt to dispel the ambiguity of his being but, on the contrary, accept the task of realizing it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/man-must-not-attempt-to-dispel-the-ambiguity-of-his-being-but-on-the/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) [Browse all 431 Ambiguity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambiguity/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "In Maureen Owen's perfectly titled Erosion's Pull, words and lines map, unmap, and revamp our everyday postcontemporary geographies: ironies and ambiguities, surrealistic conundrums, kaleidoscopic comedies, puzzlements, certain and uncertain loves and losses.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Susan Howe" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-howe/in-maureen-owen-s-perfectly-titled-erosion-s-pull-words-and-lines-map/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Ambiguity" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-howe/in-maureen-owen-s-perfectly-titled-erosion-s-pull-words-and-lines-map/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/303/susan-howe-36793_ambiguity_in-maureen-owen-s-perfectly-titled-erosi_2631123.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/303/susan-howe-36793_ambiguity_in-maureen-owen-s-perfectly-titled-erosi_2631123.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/303/susan-howe-36793_ambiguity_in-maureen-owen-s-perfectly-titled-erosi_2631123.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In Maureen Owen's perfectly titled Erosion's Pull, words and lines map, unmap, and revamp our everyday…” — Susan Howe", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Susan Howe", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-howe/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "In Maureen Owen's perfectly titled Erosion's...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-howe/in-maureen-owen-s-perfectly-titled-erosion-s-pull-words-and-lines-map/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-howe/in-maureen-owen-s-perfectly-titled-erosion-s-pull-words-and-lines-map/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```