Sound Painter

by Jeff Pinkney

This poem won Editor's Choice in the 2014 2-Day Poem Contest

Two worlds have collided, she’s the sailboat

on Sunday afternoon to my Monday morning

barge, probably I cramp her style, even though

we’re floating in the same waters, two versions

of the same song, she points out, takes me along

as she arouses a dimming harbour with her tag,

her way to counter the putative normalcy of Canadian

conformity, not a musician, says she of herself

but a sound painter, when the wolf howls and the

pack answers it’s not the pitches, tempos or

rhythms it’s the timbres that colour you from

inside, and if you’re sufficiently unlocked,

change you, and it’s not about raising the volume,

she’s emphatic, saying the booster is the emotion,

while I try to recall if I’ve had one lately, two

worlds have collided and I’d follow her anywhere.

Published online June 30 2014.