Reverb at low Volume

 

Silent Reef 80 x 80 x 1.8 cm - acrylic on canvas

 

 

REVERB AT LOW VOLUME

 

To your left

a threadbare curtain, swelling

       in the breeze, a purple sail

under which, you briefly imagine, Cate Blanchett’s  

eying her lover on the Royal Barge. How retro! On paper

are words that would bore anyone to death, which means

                all bets are off, you have NOTHING to say.

Oh writer, oh poet, make yourself useful, take out the garbage

      at least. Follow your nose next door where 

           fat ribs on a neighbor’s grill sizzle, his taciturn     

                 wife, plump as a burrito, swiping her phone.

       Finally, the meaning of life—and it’s… food? Food offered

by a woman whose smile says there’s no trouble in the world.

              Or is it the locked-in Mardi Gras of a smart phone? Or is

      it October light in this garden, lovely and dark-rimmed?

   I mean it is dark, almost black, BEHIND the light.

          There’s no way into something new but to switch on the lights

and watch—with relative compassion or mild

sadic curiosity—the cats—pretty, long-haired psychopaths—

                             cornering a suicidal moth. An innocent

hits the off switch, but soon we hear the growl of success: of course,

                  the gorgeous fuckers can see in the dark.  

 

 

 

 Edie Brickell - Good Times