source:

old pond
water sound
a frog

where a = b:

pme qpoe
xbufs tpvoe
b gsph

line 1:

pme, the sound of poem - pome - the o a tiny pond, a moon risen from the lips and then lost by cloud, or pme, pomme as if o its picture felled by arrow off the head of a frightened child.

qpoe, kapow - the sound of arrow hitting apple, qpoe, poetry truncated, 'try' broken off, q the p reflected as in a pool of water, as if p poetry tried suddenly to turn its head.

line 2:

xbufs, x the spot where the confident father aimed, the spot where the young saint ended his alphabet, the teacher marking it x, wrong. bufs - buffs - aficionados, they've taken a shine to it, then later, ex- buffs, their enthusiasm dimmed, gone cloudy, they've polished it off and now regret it, x crossing it out, taken the apple back.

tpvoe, typed over it, typo vers (fr.), voe - no sibilance in their 'voice', 'voe' calling out as the arrow hits its mark. kapow. no time for reflection now. too late to cut it short, diving first, then thinking of water.

line 3:

b, an existential imperative, the apple bisected, the command follows. 'b', speckled with droplets of water, apple juice, the moon covered by clouds in the mist. gsph the gasp as the apple falls, as the cold water closes, as the poem is thought of, the sudden breath like gsph, a gospel remembered, the young saint writing, coming to x like a glyph.