A dog whose bark mimics a beeper implies nothing
to another dog whose voice moves like a fax machine.
Stripped in plain sight, the forest whispers
in endless stanzas; from cantos to quartos,
enjambment to caesura.
The bushes skirt the garage; eager to hide
the ground’s dirty secrets
of morning, after the night sky forgot its size
trying to write away its sadness.
But definitely the still air will re-plant seedlings
right where they fell; and summer sweat
will coat notebook pages splayed open like
someone couldn’t find the poem they wanted,
the blue wearing thin the white, making the words
less likely to be understood, rather seen through.
Anywhere else, laughter echoes from mouths unseen:
playground children experimenting with momentum
and gravity; a man tired of talking to himself; a woman
looking for silence.
Why do we say things that can break glass?
Why didn’t we just open the window first?
Outside, those who heard nothing went on living.
What did we see that we wanted to tell them?
MATTHEW P. GALLANT has taught high school English since 2003 in New Hampshire and in Washington, D.C. The author of several chapbooks and a full-length collection, Hope for the Body, Matthew has been the featured performer at venues all over New England and the DMV, as well as a part-time host of the Beltway Poetry Slam. A member of the inaugural 2010 Mill City Slam team from Lowell, Massachusetts, and the 2011 Slam Free or Die team from Manchester, New Hampshire, Matthew was also the 2011 NorthBeast Slam Champion at that year’s regional tournament. His independent poetry press, Sargent Press (www.sargent-press.com), has released eight collections from individual poets since 2012, and most recently, Red Reads First: a haiku anthology. In addition to all things poetry-related, Matthew is an earnest practitioner of DIY home improvement.
