JON WHYTE: Keeper of Place
Journals, Notebooks and Wordplay
Every One and No
One
This is the story of a boy and a girl. They are called
Everyone and No One, but they are both good children,
but here is some of their troubles. Everyone is a girl and No
One is a boy. 1. Everyone had a party
and No One was their. 2. Everyone fell in and No One saved
her. 3. Everyone had a cake and No One ate it. 4. Everyone
belonged to the Cathalic church and No One went to the Angalin
church. 5. Everyone painted a picture and No One bought it. 6.
Everyone bought a house and No One lived in it. 7. Everyone got a
camra and No One was in the pictures. 8. No one got a set of dishes
and Everyone broke them. 9. Everyone wanted to go to the bath room and No
One owned a toilet. 10. Everyone owned a store and No One bought things
there. 11. Everyone owned a speedboat and No One knew how to drive
it. 12. Everyone had a baby and No One was its
Father.
– Jon Whyte (age ten)
In the introduction to Gallimaufry, a collection of poems published in 1981, Jon explains: I wrote the fagment “Every One and No One” when I was ten. I include it because Catharine saved it, and I have preserved its misspellings. I think it a precocious snippet. It is, I believe, the last work I wrote entirely for adults.
