“Ligature,” by Christine Kitano

“Ligature,” a poem by faculty member Christine Kitano, recently appeared in the Leon Literary Review. Read an excerpt below:

Ligature

After years of knowing its meaning, I encounter
the word out of expected context and must look up the definition,

one I know I learned early, studying music—ligature, a mark
to indicate notes that belong together, a phrasal unit.

Now, I read the word and think binding, picture the figure-eight
cuffs around a person’s wrists or, on a crime show, the red

circling the victim’s neck. I think then of the word frenulum,
a misstep in my synapses, but my tongue demands

I now pronounce its syllables: fren-u-lum, the sounds
like small hills, rolling…

Find the rest of this poem here: http://leonliteraryreview.com/2020/03/ligature-christine-kitano/