The Cormorant's Song

I try to write down everything as a poem.

Nothing is inherently "poetic." Everything is.

I do not carry a notebook around with me.
I have short-term memory loss.

There is usually a tablet somewhere nearby.
My fingers cannot keep up with my mind.
I lose things in transcription.

There are holes in the nets I use to capture things.
My files are full of fragments.
I use them to build mosaic walls & pathways.
My poems are about the things that escaped the nets.
Not having seen them, I cannot remember what they were.

I make things up.

Yiminishuqilibi Khan. (d. 645(?) CE)

included in: Rivalling The Six Dynasties: Poems from the Eastern Turkish Khaganate selected & translated by Umberto Allegrezza; The Uzbekistan Historical Society; Bukhara, 2000.