Inspired by the Fripp & Eno piece, included on their album Evening Star.

Feedback manifest as cobalt
sits at the edge of the soundstage
pulling at the ear

the head bends in response

Vibrato ripples through the alchemist’s solution
unhindered by the fallibility of his reasoning

Time warps to a crawl

The scraping you hear
is the sound of your fears
etching themselves in the wall
you think protects you

If I had a nickel
I’d be surprised by Jefferson’s three-quarter stare
as he faces me
but avoids looking directly at me

as though my fillings were made from uranium

How can anything be golden
when gold is so malleable?

I’m looking for permanence
at least, to the extent that it freezes only the good

leaving the bad to fall away, unnoticed

while the summer heat
floats ever higher
on the mercury sea

(9 September 2016)