Story

kitchen murmurs

Wild Flower of the Monkey King

A wild flower flickered in the Monkey King's palm—small as proof, loud as a crown He taught it tricks of wind and riddle-speech, to cart the dusk and tumble kingdoms down Its petals rewrote maps: veins as poems, each fold a compass that makes old borders frown So from that stubborn bloom a new legend grew, stitching history to song and earning its own renown

At dusk the Monkey King cupped the bloom like lantern-light for vanished vows, Each petal exhaled a roster of ruins, names folded into the hush of boughs, It remembers our names, soft as ash, murmured into the river's slow mouth, Farms unlatched their memories; the moon stitched back the silhouettes of towns, It remembers our names, a reed-song passing under bridges and through crowns, The flower—

The flower exhaled a low, rocking hush that braided night into a mother's coil, Petals unspooled lull and ledger both, naming hearths until the smoke forgot its hurry, Lanterns bobbed like slow-heart answers; each name folded into the palm of sleep, The Monkey King's thumb kept the beat, patient as moon-breath, coaxing cities soft and small.

The bloom went quieter than quiet, like a candle learning to keep a secret. Its petals surrendered one small fact—homes had grown where promises were sown, not stones. The Monkey King's thumb slackened; an apology settled into his palm like a patient pulse. Night leaned in; roofs inhaled the soft syllable and held it like newly sewn cloth. The river catalogued that syllable, smoothing it into a sh

smoothing it into a shiver of sound that coaxed the reeds into speech, each syllable swung like a small bell and windows unlatched to answer, roofs folded their lids away; alleys rose, a long throat exhaling names, the bloom split its breath into many little choirs and the town learned how to wake

Hinges hummed awake; light slipped under thresholds like a curious hand, A kettle answered from the third flat, steam threading the bloom's soft glossary of names, Children pressed palms to frames and found maps there—shoeprints spelling directions home, The Monkey King kept a thumbbeat on every latch; morning came measured, parcel by parcel.

Doorways learned to raise their music; lintels hummed like prayer-worn strings. Neighbors halted on sills and answered, laying feet down as measured syllables. The Monkey King's thumb turned cantor—each light press a measure, each lift a breath. Passing was consecrated: palms on thresholds, names unspooling into the house's chorus.

The bloom surrendered its last ledger into the hush beneath eaves, and every hearth answered, Stove-sighs and kettle-whispers braided with spoon-gossips, steam spelling names into the air, The Monkey King laid the flower on the doorstep; shutters exhaled, roofs folded like old books, Day opened ordinary and holy—names sewn into bread, into railings, into the small work of keeping home.

Home

— The End —