peripheral vision - a private opera
written in part in November 2001 and finished 3 January 2002 copyright © 2001-present James Sanghyun Han (a.k.a. steal this and DIE)
| he smiles and shows his teeth and he is the young Paul McCartney, with better hair he stares at me out the tops of his eyes and he's like the love child of Jet Li and a cheb from Algiers when we walk side by side i feel ugly i am a skidmark on the asphalt a phantom in my own private opera but then he looks at me sideways and my fingers are covered by his and i gleam like a puddle in sunshine he laughs and pulls away from my grasp and he is my first love, but with better clothes he grins at me from a nook in his cheek and he's like Aladdin from that Disney movie - sickening, I know when we get on each other's nerves i am like the bottom of the ocean an ooze in the frigid, wet-dark deep but then he lies on top of me and my toes curl as my breathing goes weird and i mutter in random tongues: puer, sine tactum meum frui ipsem motto fukaku, omae no nioi ga ee ya na et labi labia dulcissima praeter meum corpus yawning from behind, he puts arms 'round my torso and he is a young Carl Sagan with wild, dark hair his head sinks into the neighboring pillow and he is Suburban Man sawing logs into my ear when he pushes for room i feel invisible i am blank, unsure and shriveled a dry crackly leaf trapped in a stone box but then he reaches for my arms whimpers, putting a warm head to my chest and my heart blooms with a rose of blood and then we walk side by side and i feel godly almost like we're an incestuous Dioscuri or Zeus with a Ganymede willingly ensnared and then on the periphery of our vision they yell at us, jeer, laugh and we are suddenly underdog heroes in our own private action movie Robin Hood and the original James West holding hands and eliciting glares he looks at me sideways and puts arms 'round my torso and he is my first love, murmuring nasty thoughts into my ear he gleams at me like a puddle in sunshine and he is a young Carl Sagan with wild, dark hair and privately i note - this is no lame phantom opera but still a sort of music worth it me to hear |