STRINGHETTA WRITES

I remember, wrote Mr. Oteh
One day when it was raining teeth

Stringhetta asked me whose teeth they could be, and
I said those were the teeth of some people on a distant planet

why their teeth are falling? Stringhetta asked me
Because the people were not careful, I told her

she was naked, except for a belt made of sixteen shot glasses held
Together with copper wire

you are going to hurt yourself, I
Told her

she wanted to read me what she wrote that morning
This was it:

I hear a laughter over and over
It is in my mind
But I can not remember whose laughter it is

a good magician doesn’t need any magick
a beautiful woman doesn’t need a mirror
a great mind doesn’t need thoughts

god if there were one, couldn’t need itself

she
she experienced with every kind of passion, but
she was never satisfied with her feelings

when you beat a dog, your beat yourself
When a man kills a man, another man dies inside of the killer

she saw a rat that was
Breathing heavily
Then she realized she was breathing the same air as the creature
Then for a while she couldn’t breathe

then she cried. The rat was dying, because of poison
I love you rat, she said with tears in her eyes
I love you

in the morning, there was found a dead WIND
Nearby was Tomby the butcher with his knife
The wind’s body must still be warm, Tomby said
Don’t even think about it, she said

Tomby and her waited an hour, then
The wind came back to life, and left

there was an egg
An old queen was inside the egg
Damn it! said the old queen, I wish I were a baby bird with a beak
The egg went bad
There was nothing to do

Mr. Oteh believes time and eternity are perpendicular one to another

now the present only exists in the mind
now
now
now
if it wasn’t for the mind there would be nowhere now, the
idea of now

Varamabandsha is made of flesh: atoms
Katanemumbshe is made of words: more atoms
Is Varamabandsha more“real” than Katanemumbshe?

Am I a ghost, an echo
A wish?

bravo! I said
Interesting ideas, funny thoughts

she had a writing pad; I asked her where it was from
The same place as the shot glasses, that was her answer

so is there a name on it? On the back, I said
She found it: Sui mu Ote’h

::: ::: :::

[Picture: The old queen in the egg by reading_is_dangerous]