Douglas Luman
Language Primer Over Goat, Ho Chi Minh City
For Ben
I.
We ate the whole goat. Tongue,
nipples, lips. Drank something
like basil juice (even the Frenchman,
rolling up all the day’s time
could not fold his mouth to describe it).
Inside every three or four, a fire. Liquor
made brains squat over the flame,
aphrodisiac for mushrooms, starfruit.
Potatoes bustled. A fig beer
chattered through lotus leaves.
II.
Gamey. Ocher smoke. Earthy tang.
Monotone chiffon, equidistant
from tin cans. Marrow in the bone.
Lamb crossing the room in black stockings.
III.
I become noise, faint
memory of when I knew words; now,
only tones and vowels.
a as in thān
stuttering â as in uhh
ư is a lazy tilde (don’t move mouth, smiling)
i is ē
u – like ooo (teeth together,
lips apart).
The Frenchman hears my eyes;
he is smiling.
For Ben
I.
We ate the whole goat. Tongue,
nipples, lips. Drank something
like basil juice (even the Frenchman,
rolling up all the day’s time
could not fold his mouth to describe it).
Inside every three or four, a fire. Liquor
made brains squat over the flame,
aphrodisiac for mushrooms, starfruit.
Potatoes bustled. A fig beer
chattered through lotus leaves.
II.
Gamey. Ocher smoke. Earthy tang.
Monotone chiffon, equidistant
from tin cans. Marrow in the bone.
Lamb crossing the room in black stockings.
III.
I become noise, faint
memory of when I knew words; now,
only tones and vowels.
a as in thān
stuttering â as in uhh
ư is a lazy tilde (don’t move mouth, smiling)
i is ē
u – like ooo (teeth together,
lips apart).
The Frenchman hears my eyes;
he is smiling.
Douglas Luman is the Book Reviews Editor at the Found Poetry Review. His work has appeared in publications such as UCity Review, Burningword and The SquawkBack.
