Listen

(written 2008)

Listen told me the secrets of the stars
(she whispered when she spoke)
and she meant every word.

We understood her before our minds understood her language.
Listen is like that.
Sometimes day would go by before we noticed her until we realized that she had never left.

in this way
Listen is our sister.

Neglectful in our forgetfulness
Listen was patient
Listen forgave us before we felt bad for being deaf
and didn't hear our apologies when apologies came.

she was playing.

"what are you saying?"
asked listen who heard the
disconnect between words formed in a broken language and the frequency of our beings

..

and she said
   'let's dance'
         with her eyes

and I said
    'we are'
          with my feet

and the grass was like that
all eyes. all feet.

..

it was fall.
and when the trees wept their leaves
I heard it all.

her body smiled as tears washed these ears
Listen whispered
as sound was arriving so easily
Listen whispered
as I began to hear more completely

..

It was day time
but day time does not mean a simple sky world
at best - as was obvious - the stars were loud
the sun brilliant in his vibrato
round like ripples from a pebble dropped in still water pushing sensation onto naked feet

but these were our bodies under day's sun.

..

Listen thanked me and
we finished our dance with sleep.

..

in the other world,
in the reflection of all that is
there is music

kboom boom
the earth a series of rhythms orchestrated by the moon
a synchronized convergence of frequencies so many have known
and
kboom boom
I began rhyming in languages that speak for themselves
requiring neither verb conjugation nor predicate noun

songs of being
              by being
                   by being found

and Listen, jesting, asked for my autograph
so I initialed saturn's rings with the dream of a meteor punctuated with a moon lifting the tides of my consciousness of the
kboom boom
while a symphony of whales exhaled simultaneously
I didn't need to think phonetics or how to break down turntables easily
the music already was
      and I sang by being
            and smiled
                  and listen smiled

..

now
as I fall asleep at night

Listen sings me skies of stars by being night time skies.
She whispers cool breezes in summer and sparkles on the snow

and in this way

my skin has become like an eardrum
reminding me to dance
rather than complicate the music that is
kboom boom