I set down the pen for a little while,
warm, golden grass, ebony ink—
silly little panda face munching bamboo
etched into the woody top,
opposite a blackened steel tip
When I returned to it,
took up the battle once again,
I noted for the first time kanji
which, for some ungodly reason,
I understood, despite knowing precisely
four, maybe five bits of Japanese—
and reading none
Words were there, words infinite in their
diminution and their number that
I had so carelessly neglected—
I picked up my pen for a little while more,
and found it had become a blazing sword
-AJ Mayfield
