Doppelganger Blues

Doppleganger (2009) by Mona Kuhn

The animal that felt like a God
Heard voices in his head.
The God that felt like an animal
Heard birds.

It was the same voice, after all
Like a dry seed in a shell
Knocking at the cover of the sky.

Meaning is a matter of survival for some,
Like food, air, water and sun,
For others it's in the realm of the magical,
Like birds and lava, photosynthesis and fire.

Equations always cancel out, for all their elegance:
Meaning equals meaningless, spirit equals flesh;
There are no fireballs free to fall
Without a polar quenching cold that rises.

The estranging statements burn like opened eyes.
The polyglot of lies becomes the truth
When they disintegrate
No less than when they formed, as bumps in empty space,
Protuberances that caught on strings of song.

O, how they resolved
In mirror-image twins
Who smiled in both directions,
Creating the shade of a third dimension,
The illusion that would be a completion,
A perfection of opposition
But for the human
Missing something,
Forever willing to forget
What's inside the eyes and breath,
The lover always veiled
From the statues that depict him.

Incestuous the circles that go round and round the stone,
Like the wind that so enjoys unsettling things
Goes on hoping for what's lost to be unbidden,
Can never feel at one with what is hidden.