"whelmed, over with remembering" - a haibun found . . .

[Michael (MV)]

. . . after Katharine Clifton's letter from Michael Ondaatje's 1992 The English Patient:


My darling,

I'm waiting for you. How long is the day in the dark? Or a week? The fire is gone, and I'm horribly cold.
I really should drag myself outside but then there'd be the sun. I'm afraid I waste the light on the paintings and on writing these words.

We die. We die rich with lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we've entered and swum up like rivers.
Fears we've hidden in - like this wretched cave. I want all this marked on my body. We're the real countries.
Not boundaries drawn on maps with the names of powerful men. I know you'll come carry me out to the Palace of Winds.


We depart with that warm white wind
we have long belonged
into Your hands


That's all I've wanted, to walk in such a place with you. With friends, on an earth without maps.
The lamp has gone out and I'm writing [beyond] the darkness.


found far from the maddening
memory of death
we die just to live

lamps in the sand
yet each a love letter
through the world illuminates

 

 

 

 







 

 

[SivaRamanathan]

Michael

Loved reading this.I don't think anyone can workshop your writing.It is perfect.


S

[Michael (MV)]

Thanks, Siva,

for reading & your kind comment.


Please understand that the italicized is an epistolary passage from Michael Ondaatje's 1992 The English Patient.
This is the source of the prose component this haibun is found on,
The 3 tercets - one incorporated near the end of the body of the letter, and the other 2 as a double postscript - are mine.

^^ I believe since a prior creativity prompted the haibun, then the process was ekphrastic;
specifically here, since the source is incorporated in the text, I describe this as a collaborative ekphrasis.


Siva, I hope this behind-the-scenes adds to your enjoyment of the haibun.



Michael (MV)

Michael

Loved reading this.I don't think anyone can workshop your writing.It is perfect.


S

 
 
 
 
 

[SivaRamanathan]

Michael
Thank you so much.I am learning a lot from you.This will help me understand the haibun better. I have a poet friend in England who very patiently gives coaching thus.Stanley.I have learnt a lot from him.
Many thanks.
Siva

[Bernie01]

wonderful collaboration...you picked a great partner.


bernie