Air Ear Strings
for JoAnne & Marion & Sandra & Valann

i.
rub the air, the atmosphere the wrong way
I must, for the sake of ire

must raise blood pressure, produce fierce heart beat
tires must screech
where air and earth are as if sedated

must make waves, make oceans splash
make symbols clash, crash, clang

I must rage against the dying of the light
against the end of life
against knives drawn to shove in us

ii.
had to knock myself out
had to beat myself up to get here

how ragged I am, I feel
having to rip myself away
from other sensations, attachments

with ticket for $75 though, how could I not gallop
how could I not get here
however sweet were the demons, the ghosts
the toast, the tea

everything honey-laced,
which home spilled, spewed

had to drag myself away, this sweet too
too sweet to miss or to dismiss

I’m torn, I’m ripped,
not just by today’s contradictions
but life’s contradictions, I live between
day in, day out

heaven and hell, drawing me, clawing away
doing battle for my soul

my body in the midst, in the flames,
as well as on ice

iii.
your heart’s beating and you’re breathing
when you’re writing or composing

one has to be living to write or to compose

heart beating, intake, outlet of air
in what you put down

later, dead and buried
and who lives must breathe life
back into a piece of music, a poem

conductor before an orchestra
to make the music live again, anew

bring it back to life, as it lived initially
when the author lived

all the plays of Shakespeare
by actors brought to life

children in the womb
will carry tradition on
after tradition bearers have come and gone

stories to tell, over and over, around the world
throughout time

the rhythm of the waves
to tie life together, to free you, to free me

Beethoven Rasumovsky Quartets
we can appreciate, we can be deeply moved
because of musicians’ ability to read, relive,
relate


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2008
9:28 p.m. 03.05.08