Breaking Notes

3 part poem

1

I can see my breath,

Waiting for my engine to warm,

I slip my gloves on,

turn the dial of my stereo.

This disc begins to skip.

More and more,

This irritant strikes my ear.

 

2

Eleven Nineteen reads the clock,

I grab for my LG phone,

Set the music player and begin,

Lip-syncing, “Lace me up, lace me up,

I’m still looking for these angels in the snow”

 

Hard at work, I stroke the paper back and forth,

Dressing white with shades of black,

Ink roars from the pen as a startled

octopus in the depths of the sea.

                       

Sudden silence strikes,

I reach for my cell to discover a message,

Responding quickly, I press play again,

More ink dresses the paper beneath me,

Again the music stops.

 

3

Bed coverings stacked four layers high,

What can get me to rise?

The sun shines between the blinds.

Still, I hide from daylight.

After an hour of tossing and turning,

I lower my feet to the carpet.

And press power on the stereo.

Double bass is rumbling the floor;

The ambiance shifts and I wake.