What Could That Be?
It could be the sound of whatever animal a woman carries in her heart tearing through her chest tattoo pacing growling sniffing behind the ears of your inside animal or else the sound of fallen lightning turning to fire across a field a fire of desperation or invitation maybe the sound of your special medication speaking shyly to her special medication or the wet tones of one bank account weeping as another bank account shudders or pages turning in an empty ledger the family bible a notebook of prairie haiku scrawled in blue crayon it’s hard to say it could be a broken farewell to a farmhouse the sizzle of an ancient corn crib baking in the summer heat a tomb of old maize magic so strong once large voodoo men of straw were crucified just to keep away the dark clouds of crows crow mouths you see being wholly unsuited to the silence expected of human grief
In our dream band, on Archtop Tenor Guitar:
Originally from the flatlands of central Illinois, Justin Hamm now lives near Twain territory in Missouri. He is the author of four books of poetry, Drinking Guinness With the Dead: Poems 2007-2021, The Inheritance, American Ephemeral, and Lessons in Ruin, and a book of photographs entitled Midwestern. He is also the creator of Poet Baseball Cards and the founding editor of the museum of americana.
Ran Off With the Star Bassoon 