My Body of Many Ear(s)

-After “EAR ON ARM” by Stelarc ¹

The ear you hear is not
an ear because you hear it;
It is an ear because it hears you. ²

(on the back of my head 𓂈)
I hear the wail of the ocean
as I float backstroke-
whispering gossip cuts through my skull
sharp like a laser

(on my tongue 𓂈)
The ear grows out of my taste buds-
I hear the plastic sweetness of her love words,
taste the off-tuned notes of a recipe I copied from Google.
Synesthesia, is the soft prosthetic dissolves in my mouth
like popping candy

(on my palms 𓂈)
Like unstable Bluetooth pairing,
when we hold hands walking to McCarren Park,
between telepathy and invisible signal
between crossed fingers and my sweating eardrum,
I hear all your untold stories
and the silent prayers

(on my belly 𓂈)
A navel inside of my fresh ear
The umbilical cord untangled-
Your pink rhinestone belly piercing,
stab into my loneliness.
All I can hear is the echo
of my own heart, vibrating.

(on my knees 𓂈)
The humming begins,
as I hear the bruises on my knees healing.
The snapping of my joints, is just as loud as the 808 bass drum

(on my sole 𓂈)
I hear the crack of melting ice
from a winter 5 years ago
and the faint breath of the sand
7,861 miles away in my tropical hometown.
A tiny hermit crab pinches my ear lobe-
now turning into a pearl earring from Kulangsu

Hyperplasia, amplification-
my body of many ears,
as I close my eyes,
the world comes to me.

¹ The image is from the artist Stelarc and his work “EAR ON ARM-engineering internet organ”

²Quote from Antonio Machado “The eye you see is not an eye because you see it; It is an eye because it sees you.” -Proverbs and Song