blank cassette

you showcase                          the worst         of summer

by noon           the forest         details your scorch 

I taste the battery        from your match 

alone, I chase the hum of helicopters. make a melody from the evoke of hum

               alone, I sing blue lakes’ din

leave me a rock with some seed. leave me a drop or more.

my name is why

I am here              in pink carpenters             and ashy palms

while rain purees        the soot                        

I pelican          from couch      to window

              make a melody from the evoke of hum

leave me rocks with some seed. leave me a drop or more

my name is why

the creek keeps me in pulse                an elegy for peppery char

I whisper           leave me something            something

the volcanic rocks       are       everywhere.

              my terrain dead soon newborns.

leave me rocks with some seed. leave me a drop or more

my name is why

you last whispered a sorrel refrain

I forgot to press record

April 13, 2004

Oregon

“blank cassette” was first published in Semantikon, Vol 3, Version 4, March 2005.