Listen to this poem using the player above.
This poem was inspired by a tweet by trombonist Jeff Albert. His message became the first line of the poem.
Separation
The MacBook Pro’s headphone out does
not have clean stereo separation.
It cannot effectively separate the
left from the right.
Nor can it color-code cull the allowed from
the illegal.
Or sit at the base of the wall in the cold
desert night, waiting for what the coyotes bring.
The MacBook Pro’s headphone out sends
a steady stream of sound
straight to the bones inside your ears,
causing tiny vibrations that your
brain magnifies then translates into
language you can understand.
And yet, left and right
will not be properly separated. Will mix
inappropriately, causing some in the room
to murmur their disapproval.
Are you murmuring your disapproval? Casting
a sidelong glance, perhaps
catching the eye of another partygoer, who
responds with raised brow or a
cluck
of the tongue?
Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.
Can you separate
left from right?
Do you know where you bread is buttered?
Do you want to wash the dishes?
the progression of the narrator’s wonderings to downright confusion is terrific. i also like the mix of technology talk with coyote and washing the dishes.
Thanks, Carolee. To me, this is a poem about immigration, at least eventually. The coyote line is a reference to the smugglers who bring people across the border (that’s what they’re called). And then it moves into a discussion of the typical conservative reaction to immigration, followed by the questions about the effect of immigrants on our economy. I’m not sure anybody else would read that into the poem. That raises the question for me: Should the poem be more explicit?