Mondegreen with backing vocals
by Thomas Riley
The second song I wrote for him sounded wrong. I couldn’t
say what I wanted to say. He misheard the first song
you wrote. He did. I wrote new lyrics to correct the old ones.
He understood those better. I did not. I wanted him to understand
the first song. I wanted him to hear love. Though you never
really said love. I can’t say love; it’s unpoetic. I can’t say love,
so I said duvet. I can’t say love, so I said jackal. You said jackal
and he heard jackal. Are metaphors so wrong? I gave him a beast
to show him carnality. You showed him a beast and he saw himself
eating a carcass. He preferred the duvet. I thought he would like
something complicated. No one mishears the duvet. No one mishears
love. I said love in the second song. It sounded incorrect. Love
sounded incorrect? Love sounds like anything. Jackal sounds
like me. He was standing so close when I sang the first song. How
hard could it have been to hear me?