tone one: half-chalk
Feather touches
like petting moths
without collecting the fine ash
or, perhaps,
doing so and blowing it off
boneless fingers with
a whisper.
Patting a blackboard
using the weathered pad
of your finger,
gingerly,
rousing the dust and
watching the crumbled
rise in clouds,
chalk but not so much,
morendo.

tone two: glint
Vertical
piercing white blocks
crisp linen folds,
wrist surging in like a crest
of brine
and sunny flashes
Swarovski in the blue but satin veils,
Meursault on the beach but silk blindfolds,
striking deep
ringing, pulsing
and eternally shrill
marble slabs but velvet sheets,
brain freeze but cottoned mittens,
crisp tolling,
pulled hair roots,
needle under anesthetic,
luminoso.

tone three: oil
Slow strokes
wet skin on bone
painting ovals with your elbows
stirring the air
laying down a deceptive patina
of lingering notes,
slow release and heavy lidded eyes
drawn-out stretching
breathing in the
buttery residue
of soapy melody,
a lover’s soaked hair
and sleepy-sated
half smile,
lugubre.

tone four: stiletto
Hot keys and pepper powder
volatile fingertips,
re-sprung every measure
rapid blinking
gone in two moments, the pop
as a lightbulb goes out
repeatedly,
the first contractions, and
when the pot boils and
you play the bubbles for that
plucking glance,
that controlled tapping
that endless litany
of continuous passage,
marcato.

tone five: steppes
Vast grass carpets
large steps down to the core,
loping gait
steady, flat pounding,
shifting yet solid
crossing the patchwork.
Broad feet in wide shoes
rigid joints extended from
set elbows,
ringing the bass strings
with thick pizzicato,
reverberations into the horizon,
a sweeping chorus of
polyphonic overlapping,
unbearably heavy and
pesante.