Consider the stone in the throat
holding just below the tongue
its long silence waiting to melt
its molten song––that suddenly
slips
to drop
heavy and clanking down
the long ladder of explanation
to the pit.
Tragic Misuse
Linguistic loss
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This reminds me of Mumon’s “hot iron ball” in his commentary for Jōshū’s “Mu” koan. 🙂
Wow, Michael. Thank you for this! I had to look it up and what a gift! What’s funny is that what set me down that road was something Seamus Heaney said about the lump in the throat. I love this convergence. Deep bow of gratitude, friend : )
Thank you as well. I really appreciate the gifts you keep giving me without knowing it. 🙂