Startles you, a pan dropped,
a mug you put down too hard
on the counter, your own steps
to open the noisy refrigerator.
Did you think there was a calm
you could carry into this house?
Even the most quiet of places,
an old moss forest on a pennisula
far from the mainland, roars
with the outrage of light
funneled into buzz hum screech cry,
a heavy branch dissolved right off
one cedar onto the forest floor
where everything is falling,
all this sound, hard gallops
pounding dirt, itself made of sound,
everything symphonics, discord,
breaking through human weather.
So when the broom crashes
onto the linoleum floor, why not
pick it up and sing along?
Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Ph.D., the 2009-13 Kansas Poet Laureate is the author of 24 books, including How Time Moves: New & Selected Poems; Miriam’s Well, a novel; and The Sky Begins At Your Feet: A Memoir. Founder of Transformative Language Arts, she offers writing workshops, coaching, and collaborative projects. CarynMirriamGoldberg.com
