Article 12

after the MAN'YOSHU, The 10,000 Leaves

at the scintillating 
edge, where yr. dark hairs  
    meet mine on the altar
      of supreme sacrifice
         ,& did we  make

       it in the leaves, the
    Ardennes, never had 
      it so good, so good

 to know you, or was it, what
  intoxicant  in your dark hair,
    or 
   in your gaze?  perceived
       in its entirety. I am

  confounded by error, wishing 
     you wld, talk to me, fear
& subterfuge, the 

       spying nations get to
 us/ they can spy the shit out
    of me & still not know my

   name, out here, wishing I knew 
you better,I know you well enough to 
        know you'd hate this 

   place, I keep my feelings to 
       myself, but everyone 
           knows, that I\m

    alone on this green night,
    green walls in the Riggim 
      Cafe, somethin goin on,

       wish I cld. just  sleep 
    outhere hate the way the

     city closes down, at 12. 
       12 she said was the
          number 
                      of
samsara,

  does she know, even have
       any idea what she's 
          talking about, I 

wrote abt. overtones you'd 
    think I was patenting 
       a curse, I had to

    leave  the circle. but I 
           never left YOU.
nishi ogikubo/ Tokyo  2017



                    II

MY CONCUBINES's REFUGE

IT's up in arms, but whose,
&
     what kind, the kind
          used to kill   
           lady bugs
&
             all else,
  or
       the  wooden ones 

    on the 1000 Buddhas
        in
            the 

         Sanjusangendo, I

  cldn't figure out if the only 
     female protector was 
       referred to  as 
                                IT

    because the curators
           didn't know 
              English

   or because her gender
   was somehow criminal
        enough to be con-
         cealed like mine

     it's the end of an era,
 I heard those words before,

        INSTANTANEOUS

    fire
        in
           the
       mind. in the forest, 
                 of
             emotion,

   IT was OK if I played, but
     f I spoke.. I'm sorry she
        said  mental illness 

    the 
          verdict of the
               straight
                 edge,

     Again the walls of my 
       concubine's refuge 


          for whose recital
      here 
             at the edge, 
      of
          the cliff & I wish it
          hadn't happened,  

              in this way.
nishi ogikubo/ Tokyo 2017

   for
           Nick Cave



  + ONE
it 
                      was a hard
                 day, then a hard
            night, you had a friend
          or two, but no where near,

&

             what abt. that etheric
       dance hall, where moonlight
      fell in circles on  yr.shoulders of
           transparent, the water fell
                  before you, never

             tested for isotopes
&
                  neurons, but
                     you didn't

                         drink 

                Herbs were pro-
         tecting you, those fr. the
      garden of the extinct, a loving
              hand handed you
           the
                 Water Mirror

        late one night, you wanted
          to hear him play acoustic
              guitar, more than
                   anything he

               thought you wanted
          to fuck him, in secret, in
                  secret texts, the

          mystery of these things
      revealed, a syllabic speach,
         invented fr. the Sidham,

      you learned it instantaenous,
          then they threw you out
            ( of the cafe), an old

           story, very old, he said
      you were too old , I said nothing,


        but
              sat for days & nights
       w. my bow &  rosin, fr. whose
        tree, the bliss exrtinguished,

            as I gazed out, gazed 
           out,
                at the radioactive
                  streets & the

              umbrellas, held, so far
                  fr. Utamuro, so
                       close, to
                           home.
Chiyoda/ Tokyo 2017

sidham - an old form of Sanskrit on
  which the Hiragana, modern al-
     phabet is based.

Louise Landes Levi: born in NYC,  musician, poet - translator.&
  traveller. She edits a small indie press Il Bagatto 
   - forthcoming CRAZY LOUISE or La Conversa-
        zione Sacra, Station Hill, NY  & an LP,
         Colloidal Love, Audio MER Antwerp.