Friday, November 06, 2009

libretto

I stumble down
Nassau’s footway, pursued by the
carnival of street noise to
where rosedale glows.

I alight on the doorstep
and push open
the sound
breathless
save
for Dylan
and the thickness
of the silence acoustic
shelves lined with volumes
the drift of my finger's
tip
over ridge
over face over spine
each awake now
silently mouthing their words to me
in language I finally can understand.

3 comments:

Lorne Roberts said...

love it, but two questions:

#1-- why that title?

#2-- maybe the ending is too obvious? or not obvious enough? no, too obvious. that's my feeling.

interesting that you write each line as it's own rhythm/metre (i think) whereas i tend to break the metre up across lines/syllables.

maybe if it said "in languages i can finally understand" (so add an "s" and switch the order?

i dunno.

also, i like ending on shorter words, not multi-syllable. but that's just me i guess.

cara said...

a) libretto-the book containing the text of a musical work such as an opera.
I thought it was a nice way of foreshadowing and contradicting what was happening in the bookstore.

like the books and I are participating in a silent opera.

b) I agree, maybe the ending is a little obvious. I'll work on it.

c) I'm never quite sure of metre in poems. I usually read it outloud to myself and adjust it, but not sure what I'm adjusting most of the time.

renamaphone said...

over face over spine...

love it