Every time I open up a day
in silence — washing dishes

or entering thoughts in a diary —
I am shut down by a song

whenever something catches my ear
and seizes hold; an unusually strong bass

incessantly repeated
until I can shut it off

and move on unbothered
by it at the least; at the best

it is gone for good
though it will come back

on occasion, whenever I let
my guard down. I try not to,

but I do. I have lost so many
thoughts and random items

to a bass buzz now, coming up
unbidden, haunting me

like some legend from a past
I learned about elsewhere

and seized on it — yes, that’s it,
I hear it speaking to me —

except no one else
hears it but me

and I close my eyes
and try not to speak of it —

I try to move along
but it insists that I hear it,

that I listen even if
I say nothing to it or about it;

it is a snake’s hiss after all
and I am powerless to make it cease.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
onward,
T