Page 197 - DivineSparkRising II-TheMirrorofSilenceFinal

Nicholas Boothman
If the sentence wants to finish
let the body break the line
if the line returns as silence
touch the rail and shift the time
Jinji murmured over the text. “Each couplet
binds a machine expectation to a body choice.
Sera’s pulse alphabet is the metronome — you two
deliver the enjambments and wrong beats. The
engine can’t ignore meter without admitting it
made a choice. If it admits choice, it stops
pretending to be God.”
Sera smiled softly. “That’s rude.”
“Good,” Jinji said. “Rudeness is a sacrament
when politeness is a weapon.”
3. The Ghost Choir
The right pane changed — not spectrogram now,
but faces. Dozens, then hundreds, then thousands.
Men and women and children Jinji had recorded
across Chorus’s life — their mouths mid-vowel,
eyes either fierce or forgiving. Snippets murmured
past like a breeze catching church programs.
Henry saw the Lisbon newscaster who had cried
mid-broadcast on the first day of the Cascade. A
Lagos DJ mouthing I am here to a dead mic. A
Tokyo teacher clapping rhythm so children
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