J. Michael Wahlgren

Humming
 
You say it’s the only
sin & yet the only weight
of large blessings: hard to
handle, something to pluck, never
mind its strings, a plausible sound
forms its body like the vibrato
of afternoon’s block party
stuttering off at halting of
a cab at a busy town’s inter-
section. I hear each
strum. I want to whistle along
the banks of its knowledge.
While the fire spreads through
the hearts of the crowd,
Up the aorta, to the brain,
It’s an omen. Hum it
While you’re lonely
as a bow, or as comely as
Sowing wheat. To notice
any knots in the string,
The conductor caught in
a position like a torn heart
shimmies his way home
through the streets.
 
 
 
 
J. Michael Wahlgren is author of Valency (BlazeVox, 2010) & Silent Actor (Bewrite Books, 2008). He publishes for Gold Wake Press.
 
 
 
 
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