Boxing Day
Boxing Day
Stowed tongue,
a house mid-morning:
soft strum drifts
the “F” cuts,
cackling roof
thaw, phone chittering.
A voice at that volume hark-
ens news radio
where the pomade is audible
through the tickling
prompter’s ticking. Coffee pitter
patter mirroring in the lounge.
So the tinsel is set
to sleep aside a manger and
gold glinting moments,
marriage, memory.
So, the season of rest.
So the season
Happy holidays, all! I’ve gone quiet the last few weeks as I’ve been spending it with many loved ones. This poem came out of that time together, in a moment where a collection of sounds manifest in something tantamount to silence.
I was recently directed (by Sofia Samatar and Kate Zambreno in Tone) to a quote by Fred Moten where he says:
[…] a ‘sound’ was really within the midst of this intense engagement with everything: with all the noise that you’ve ever heard, you struggle somehow to make a difference, so to speak, within that noise. And that difference isn’t necessarily about you as an individual, it’s much more simply about trying to augment and to differentiate what’s around you. And that’s what sound is for me.
It may be surprising given my affection for poetry, but I’m not a particularly reflective person. The transition to a new year doesn’t have me making a lot of lists or cataloging experiences, but I will say that this year I put out 48 new poems/songs and it wouldn’t have happened without you all! Thank you so much for sharing your spare attention and the kind words many of you shared in response to the pieces. I was recently talking with friends about a particularly beautiful occurrence, the moment when someone sends your own words back to you as if to say “I felt this.” Seeing lines of poetry in isolation oftentimes imbues them with renewed meaning so thank you for being co-conspirators in meaning-making.
Did you have a favorite poem or post this year? Share in the comments!
With Gratitude.