The Clarity of White Noise (Poem)

Morris Graves (1910-2001)

Waking, Walking, Singing in the Next Dimension, 1979

Watercolor and Tempera on Paper

The Clarity of White Noise

I tried to paint a line
of bird song, listening

for chatter I could hum
through a wash of darkness

in the mountains, beyond
star-thrown light. I heard

a wheel track of shape-shifting
rainbow tones, their gray notes

shimmering like tiny pearls
on my necklace of sound.

The scrim over moon's own
chalky face lifted with urgency

of need to hear, its inner eye
cued to the clarity of white noise.

© 2013 Maureen E. Doallas
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This poem is my response to today's photo prompt today at Tess Kincaid's Magpie Tales (see the image above of Morris Graves's gorgeous painting). The opening line ("I  tried to paint a line of bird song" is taken from a Graves quote found here.

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