What really connects words and things?

It was a November night of wind.
Leaves tore past the window.
God had the book of life open at PLEASURE

and was holding the pages down in one hand
because of the wind from the door.
For I made their flesh as a sieve

wrote God at the top of the page
and then listed in order:
Alcohol
Blood
Gratitude
Memory
Semen
Song
Tears
Time.

God’s List of Liquids, Anne Carson

Glass, Irony, And God (p.52), 1995.

What really connects words and things?

Not much, decided my husband
and proceeded to use language
in the way that Homer says the gods do.
All human words are known to the gods but have for them entirely other meanings
alongside our meanings.
They flip the switch at will.

My husband lied about everything.

The Beauty of the Husband: A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos (2001) via Newyorker.