“I was planning a novel
in which two different
species on another world
needed to communicate,
one by light and image,
the other by sound & word”
—ptdiep
they cleaved me—back again
I don’t know how—but they did it
one into two—then two into one
the two that was—too much for me
the two that was one—troubling me
a unique collaboration—doubling me
the denouement of one world—dying
this exsanguination—of another world
all that was not me—my own doing undone
this strange doubling—this unique
collaboration of light & image—joining
sound and words—heads & tails
pairs of I Ching coins—yin yang
tossed in the air—thrown on a rug
split down the middle—joined as one
a pair of trigrams—magic hexagram
t’ai / peace—my laughing bellybutton
rubbing buddha’s belly—making a wish
for me it was—the new me
goodbye to all that—that wasn’t me
there in bed—new jonah and lazarus
contemplating—collaborating
