Michael Leong

[togey.livejournal.com]

Michael Leong

Haibun for Cacao

I was going to say that the letters of your
name can be found in the word cacophony,
though I realized, in the nick of time, that
one would be missing. I was going to say
something special, something with critical
mass, something marinated and simmered
in meaning. I was going to say systole. I was
going to say cochlea, to say clematis. I was
going to say the very first thing that came
to mind. I was going to say that the letters
of your real name can spell the word clarion.
Or the word acorn. The word cairn. Or the
word rain. I was going to say, “The rain came
down in an arc and toppled the cairn of
acorns.” I was mid-thought; my mouth was
open. Your last name kept vibrating through
the furrows of my brain. My mind was—as
it habitually is—in a tension. I forgot the
mnemonic and misplaced the modifier. My
throat and chest were rapidly conspiring. I
was going to say, “Since hundreds of species
of bacteria live in our mouths and dwell
on our skin, we are never really ever alone.”
I was torn between saying the words lisp
and apocalypse. I was going to say larynx. I
was going to say labyrinth. I was a complete
and utter disaster waiting to happen. I was
desperate. I was going to say, please. I was
hoping for you to say (or whisper) the word
diastole

…

a point, a period,
                             a faintly dotted fermata

Comments

[togey.livejournal.com]

Yup it's part of the poem!