Dead Air

these irritably critical conversations

are spreading me thin     like honey scraped

across burnt toast     and I am quite sure

that if I stood naked before your paper lantern

you could see straight through my skin

 

because too much talk reminds me

of being six years old at Huntington Beach

and pressing my hands to my ears each time

the lip of a wave rose up like a startled horse

and planted its wet hooves at my sinking feet

 

there are things to be said     questions

to be answered, explained, detained, drained

until our mouths are deserts on opposite continents,

but you can’t fit an entire ocean in a bottle

and even if you could, would it make more sense

than it does between the horizon and the shore?

 

the chatter on this station is turning to white noise

as we repeat, replay, rehash, reprise     everything

is a looping echo of what we already know

and I am ready to rotate our exhausted dial

until I hear the static sonority of dead air 

Reviews

[Steven]

nothing new in the world or the world to come, i like the symbolism. also i like how you used a quote from a movie to cement your point.

[Emily B]

stunning the way you used sound here . . . loved it

[TL Boehm]

because too much talk reminds me
of being six years old at Huntington Beach
and pressing my hands to my ears each time
the lip of a wave rose up like a startled horse
and planted its wet hooves at my sinking feet

I find myself just reading that part over and over.

[SteveB]

Well done! Great metaphors and I love the aliteration at the end. Strong sharp images that have just enough personal detail while still retaining universal application. A damn good write.

[Souladareatease]

Rinse and repeat...quite often it is drowning...the circle always goes on repeating...sometimes we see the detail...sometimes it has to come back and remind us of things forgotten...of missing details, so we can have lessons learned...I tend to be blind to such things....so groundhogs day begins again...Nifty Write Friday...and I mean that adoringly-Witty Work!!!
Find Your Favourite station!!!

[Saddam]

oh...wow... bravo....hnmm...
lovely piece of art....imagination......loved it...

[Traci]

"but you can't fit an entire ocean in a bottle
and even if you could, would it make more sense
than it does between the horizon and the shore?"

Such honesty and raw emotion. Your metaphors are beautifully crafted, and each poem portrays an artist that truly gets better and better. Another great write, my friend.

[Sibling]

Day at the beach?
Nahh,
Day in your life?
Perhaps,
A day in death?
Certainly.

After all if we breathe dead air,
What'd happen?

[Clara]

You're a creative, artistic, poetic genius.