image from pinterest.com
Kafka Sunrise
“I cannot make anyone understand what is
happening inside me.”--Franz Kafka.
One morning, years ago, I awoke to an odd
clicking noise. As I localized the sound, I
realized that it was more of a crazed crunching,
and that it was coming from my left ear. I
panicked a bit--did I have a punctured ear drum?
Then the noise stopped. I had my wife look at
my ear. She found nothing.
The crunching sound would come and go.
Sometimes it would get very loud, then subside.
It became surreal, like a Kafka daydream. I
imagined a tick or a spider burrowing in my cheek.
That night, I couldn’t sleep. The noise became
maddening. Then suddenly it began to itch. I
turned the lamp on just in time to greet an ant
emerging out of the quagmire of ear wax. It
dropped into my hand. I took it outside and
released it. It had earned its freedom.
Last June, beneath deck stairs,
hundreds of tiny black spider’s
eggs hatched babies.
Glenn Buttkus
Haibun
Posted over at dVerse Poets Pub
14 comments:
Oh... now I do not dare to sleep... to have an insect in your ear is what build my nightmares... I really admire your compassion with the insect.
I love the title, Glenn, and the way you dived right into the sounds, the onomatopoeic clicking and crazed crunching, but what a thing to happen inside your ear! Very Kafkaesque. I’m glad it wasn’t damaged, and you set it free.
Ugh, heebie-jeebies! When I worked in Accident and Emergency, I was told stories of insects being trapped in ears - drowning them in olive oil works, apparently. Great story, though.
I love the end of your last paragraph, that the ant had earned its release from what could have been its catacomb. You have to admire an insect that found its way out of the waxy labyrinth. The haiku at the end is darned creepy!
Dear God- this is the stuff of nightmares! I vaguely recall an old Night Gallery about a man having an earwig in his ear that freaked me out. UGH.
we do depend on spiders in our house to control the other bugs. so far they haven't gone crazy with that.
enjoyed your haibun!
LOL. A friend of mine had a roach in his ear a few years ago and it was brought out in pieces. I am glad you were compassionate to the ant.
That would really give me the creeps! Probably thought he was in a time warp in all that wax!
Great Haibun!
Oh gawd dude, yuk — I’d sleep with earplugs if that ever happened to me. My skin is crawling right now...
Love the ending and your haiku.
I've had a spider or two crawl on me at night but a bug crunching in your ear? Freaky! Another reason to sleep with earplugs...great haibun and nod to Kafka.
Oh, wow, that's creepy. Thanks for sharing the haibun, though!
Wow! How incredible is that?!
Wow! I don't think I would have been as calm as you.
Post a Comment