Measure the silences

When drops of rain pelted outside my window pane

I heard the silence between each tear and it sister.

When the car skidded past my porch

I heard the muteness of the streetlight.

When father called to help fix the heater in the winter

I heard his strained breaths struggling out of his bronchi.

And when friend told me of her last sexual adventure

I heard the disappointment of unknown heights.

Just like Prufrock, I measure the silences with coffee spoons

Mixed with fresh basil and words;

Words, imagined but not recalled,

For everything uttered was lost amid the preoccupation to uncap

The secrets hidden.

 

painting by: Gerard Houckgeest