Missives from Wonderland

This is my entry for Week 13 of the Three Strikes season of LJ Idol. This week's topic is "Kintsugi." For those unfamiliar with the term, "Kintsugi, also known as kintsukuroi, is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum; the method is similar to the maki-e technique."

Kintsugi Heart

Run your finger over the ridges, golden
seams fusing together the cracks. This one,
time-darkened, marks the moment
your good friend Heather
turned on you, snatching
your hat as you descended
from the bus, tossing it
viciously to her new friend. They
cackled as you jumped, frantic to reclaim
your hat, or dignity, before you rushed
up the hill on rubbery legs, face aflame.

Or this, with a patina from years
of rubbing the uneven surface, healing
the fracture caused by your low-rent
Spike* cheating on you with an earthy
brunette. The moment described to you
by her roommate, in annihilating detail,
like peeking through a portrait hole. Now,
softened by years, that burnished
bond has rounded edges, made
meaningless. Him? That wretched
pilferer of hearts? As if.

A series of fissures, latticework
from childhood to middle age. Each
disjunction lovingly patched
to hold the whole: the one who
wouldn't say I love you and dumped you
at a business meeting; the crush
who mocked you in school as you hid; a fractious
first husband, bent on wind and chaos.
All these, softened and soothed
with smooth, shining filaments.

Even the cleft that threatened to rupture
all, seven years ago, as your mother
danced from earth
in morning's wee hours. Even that gulf,
leafed and sottered. Tempered
by the worrying finger. The way
her bright, improbable colors
peer down at you in the pastel works
she left you. Her calm voice
in dreams, reminding you. She
first taught you how to heal. This
endless work.

Created by the AI art project at craiyon.com, by inputting the term "kintsugi heart"

* I call him Spike here because of his passing resemblance to the character from Buffy. He, however, had no redemption arc.

This is my entry for Week 5 of LJ Idol, Three Strikes (http://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org). The topic this week is "Kuchisabishii," a Japanese term which refers to eating when you're not hungry, and is directly translated as "lonely mouth."

Me at poolside before class

Lonely Mouth

After class, she finds me
in the hot tub. Calls out cheerily, then launches
her litany of woes. This week, she'll see
a general practitioner
a G.I. specialist
a neurologist
a chiropractor
a podiatrist
a nutritionist
for diagnosis and treatment.

At 90-plus, her pains multiply. So many
chronic conditions, seeping into bones
and sinew, clogging up arteries,
impeding the natural flow of fluids
and air. Yet, she keeps going, keeps
moving in my aqua fitness class,
never complaining about
the challenges as we move
and groove to the beat. She's
given me these updates ever since
I first greeted her with a friendly
"How are you feeling today?"

Each day, her ailments change,
a perpetual tide, rising and falling.
The reality she battles, building
pressure inside her mouth. Bursting
out to seep into a welcoming ear.