In Uniprose Between Two Books
Ahimaz Rajessh
The Book of Silence is a rarity,
made of buckypulp,
severed but for its
last spinal remnants.
An artifact of days
not long past,
it must’ve been made
with the aid of
a manchine with
blades for hands.
Any weak Ai worth
its chip, too, could be
instructed to do it.
I flip what remains
and note some letters.
Not one
complete word.
My program instructs
me to be tough, yet
my thoughts shudder.
The rotund belly
of the nanochipped
mind is a gluttonous
pursuer-peruser inbuilt
with the curiosity
of an astute softchild.
I’d like a Book of Scent
but—
I remember the day
I brought home
the Book of Noise
it was pouring olive rain.
I press read
it exudes light.
Its first page blank,
the remaining 321 pages
I peruse are blanks,
always.
Just warm light.
Authorless and they’ve
both been named
imprecisely perhaps
intentionally.
I question if it’d be proper
to call them both
the Books of Violence being
at odds in content by degrees.
Ahimaz Rajessh has been published in The Airgonaut, Occulum, Surreal Poetics, Cuento, 7×20, Jersey Devil Press, Nanoism, Strange Horizons, Pidgeonholes, 200 CCs and Flapperhouse. His writing is forthcoming in Milkfist, formercactus, Jellyfish Review and Big Echo: Critical SF. His fiction and poetry have been nominated for Best Small Fictions, Pushcart, and Best of the Net.