Conference Call
I give to you my voice --
My lips that press, unpress, impress upon my breath,
I keep these to myself -
But --
I give to you my voice --
My tongue that touches, traveling in susurrations, raising war against my gullet gates,
I keep this to myself -
But --
I give to you my voice --
My throat that hoards the hollows of my breath, that stitches hems along my voices edge,
I keep this to myself -
But --
I give to you my voice --
The words, yes, like a deck of slides,
Blooming stems of the inane,
Distilled to fit agendas:
A self composed of meeting minutes -
And yet, I am the long-walled, warm and humid cavern,
That you cannot see,
You cannot have, you cannot see.
My voice is a fat-threaded fustian,
And I tell you to retrieve from it the contours of the loom,
From the whispers, curled, and warbled hissings, half devoured by the copper wire.
Listen, listen close.
Listen, listen close.
(images by Double-M)
7 comments:
I read this earlier and found myself thinking back to it throughout the day. Very interesting ideas in here, and I love the interplay of sounds within the words.
What a lovely compliment, thank you. I was worried, the first draft felt very Shel Silverstein, and I wasn't sure if I was able to get that out of it.
I very much the transitional feel at "deck of slides". I think that is my favorite stanza, if not "fat-threaded fustian." A loom is something to do with electrical wiring, too, isn't it?
I do not hear Shel Silverstein at all. Well, maaaybe gullet gates, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Word-skipping again. I meant like. Very much like.
*laughs* Actually I meant a loom, as in a loom one might weave a fustian on. The fustian fabric being the voice, and the throat, lips and tongue being the loom that weaves it. The mixed metaphor was perhaps overly abrupt, since that was apparently unclear. Thank you :)
I knew you meant a weaving loom, but I thought it might be a double reference, since there was the copper wire--of the telephone I assumed--just a little later as well.
Now realize I misread your original comment - I wish I HAD meant that as a double meaning. That would have been clever...
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