I unfasten my bones
to clarinet chords.
Stars are falling into my fingertips.
I am the sun.
I smell greens and blues,
I am yellow and red.
Shiva is dancing.
I close my eyes.
Pianos. Clarinets.
Beneath the bones is gold mist
Collecting dust, collecting stories.
There is ocean blue.
I am Dali’s clocks.
Clarinet moans, and I am strength.
This death is spring.
Stars are in my eyes and the sun has set
in my chest.
I’m wrapped in dandelions.
I am dreams.
My chest is rising in the east,
humming to Shiva’s alter
Wake up, slowly.
Sit up, Savasana.
I am pianos, and I am clarinets.
Inhale. Exhale.
This poem reminds me of Gregory and the Hawk's Boats and Birds. Love that song.
ReplyDeleteThis is my favorite, so far.
ReplyDeleteYou should go back through and rethink some of the line breaks. I think this poem is meant to be read slowly, like the pace of meditation. A line break in the right place can really make you pause and think.
'Savasana' is an excellent title, after I had done a little googling.
I can't say that I get the combination of pianos and clarinets. Maybe you're juxtaposing the natural flow of a wind instrument with the taught vibrations of piano wires. I don't know. The sound of the two together don't make a whole lot of sense in my head.
That being said, this poem made me relax. I didn't try to digest the entire thing at once; my eyes meandered down the page and were happy with the ending. It's the kind of empathy that you invoke that makes people conscious of their breathing and their fingertips. Awesome.