Homonympotence

Reuben Gelley Newman

Burr latching onto dendritic tendrils

Bird hatching in this emphatic nest

I thought I’d find the hymn in homonym

in him the many-limbed lover limning

the eye’s shore the ask in assonance

constant consonance of tongue

roof of mouth rough of moth can you

discern the difference it’s a moot point

this urn brimming with syllables

HO-MO-NYM HO-MY-NUMB HO-MI-NEM

CON-SO-NANCE CON-SO-LANCE CON-DO-LENCE

earn these my nonce notions

say homonympotence say hymn

say potential or potentially quia fecit

mihi magna qui potens est with me

baritone skimming sixteenth notes

off the Bach like sea-surf at the surface

level I saw a surfeit of God He who is

powerful He who pours into me

a herd of deer I heard dear god

a bee swarm harming my ears