we condescend to clear glass
so the air heliums with want
even with fire’s slow pulldown of string
the cacophonous wooden notes
(f-sharp descends to d-flat)
strangle the neck violin
fingers distance from tiny sheathing white hairs
on your cheek’s salt hill
fingerpuppets in beanies pirouette
in overheated ballets
the conductor parts the orchestra
into the red sea, left crescendo
right crescendo rippled tidal
pulling apart from each other
slowly, hats dance
further, hats dance the tarantism
sans heads turning to meet eyes
hands dance in thunderbang
unison, auditorium of electric energy
the smoke waning
leaving our lips
in one last, exhumed breath
(originally published in Random Poem Tree, Winter 2016)