When her voice was born for the first time, Two can play silence & Watch out!
by Mani Rao
[ poetry - july 05 ]
When her voice was born for the first time
When her voice was born for the first time, without her, she became the oracle with the visitor voice.
Disguised, in a costume voice. The costume, wearing her. Speaking in quotation marks.
And she became a hound whose voicebox had been removed, making her barkless.
Two can play silence
Two can play silence. Silence for two players. The time it takes to play silence.
We seize the silence together, own it separately.
You plant a silent minefield, I walk on it, flashes of meaning exploding in my head.
Watch out!
Watch out! Your children crack your heads open, a jagged jig.
Trepanned, your brain releases an air balloon to lift you out of here.
After you leave, they interlace fingers around their own heads, like it never happened to an eggshell.
