LOVE SONG TO THE ORGAN OF CORTI

I still remember

The way you worshipped my neck

With one ardent index finger

You waged world peace

Against conventional wisdom

 

You traced a timeline

Of an existence so exquisite

The transmission of sound

Fit the tip of it

In that void behind my earlobe

Where hot blood powers the Auricle

That tragic Greek Priestess

Held on the floor below the Helix

She opens herself to questioning

An utterance, and the inspiration begins

In that space

Unlocking a door is easy

But the hinge is key

To opening it

 

The original vibration

Funnels in through Durga’s Conch

The wave that rode in on the shell

Channels and transmutes

Energy spiraled through

A micro-masterpiece where

At the altar of sound we worship nature

Measured in electro-chemical impulses

Making miracles out of air conduction

 

If the eyes are the windows to the soul

The ears are the seat of intelligence

 

I still remember how you dragged

That straight little soldier of a finger down

The vertical length of my neck

The SChisM leading to the

Tuning knobs of the clavicle

How you could tell the tone of me

With your sweet mouth

So full of words and kisses

A transparency so colorless

You broke the Cannonball Jellyfish mold

Before anyone could fill it

With chem-trail conspiracies

 

I still remember how you used

To tuck your pillow into my spine

And uncurl my tiny fists

When you rose before me

 

How you stroked the crease of my brow

From a permanent scar of wounded worry

To open-eyed bliss

 

How you fit my fingers into yours

The last time we held hands

 

How you threw me on the bed

And tickled the giggles out of me

 

The look of unbearable suffering you wore

When I cried

 

How you said my name

In more ways

Than melodies have options

Until finally I heard

What you were trying to tell me at 3:2

Or very nearly so

 

I still remember how you would

Bring me presents

When you returned home

From the daily battle

Just to prove it was love

That got you through

And finding my smile

In something new every day

Even when you were broken

 

I still remember you.

 

You the kindler and the kindled

You the sparks and the smoke

You the flames, the bonfires

The water and the earth

 

You my fathers, uncles, brothers, lovers, mothers, aunts, sisters, friends

You my children

 

I still remember the way you

Reached out to me

In the womb

Before we ever

Even met face to face

You belonged to me

I was born to remember you

In the fourth month

You were already

My perfect fifth