living room interlude / Lila Goldstein

living room interlude

Lila Goldstein

trying to listen to birdsong,

morning light melting into floorboards;

interlude of chaos trilling on the same notes

until my bones settle into resonance,

indistinct from body, from bird, from house, from tree.

my body theatres in this rest, it arenas, it reaches the nosebleed seats;

star, spectator, chorus member waiting to break out.

mind empty and loud; refreshing, as in dragging down

and circling connections. as in taking a short walk

and coming home to microwave and tea kettle.

new times appear on the clock. humming, humming.

background chatter and shock of a voice on the phone

that evokes my own nasal and crackly texture,

not unlike a slow and deep chirp. expecting the couch

to absorb my embodiments of sighing, of humming,

of holding and gathering sounds.