dripsody

On a cold Thursday evening here I sit
in this tub
across from you.

The window is open.
Cold air blows through and tousles my hair.
The water is cold and with the wind I achieve
goose flesh.

I feel sorry for myself
the way a Sylvia Plath character does
much in the same way a small child
who's dropped his ice cream cone stares disbelievingly
at his poor fortune.

I would cry tears but the tears have already been shed.
The tears have filled this tub with cold water that grows
icier
every moment. Every so often the tap leaks, bleeding a tiny
bubble that
goes
...
..
.
plop!

A inanimate tear shed. You cry for me too.
If we are not related by consanguinity
we are at least related by this moment
this morose, Gothic instant of time.

I sigh, exhale a cold breath that turns to steam
in the winter air. I pick up the sliver of soap
on the edge of the tub with my fingernails and lather my arms.
Bubbles float the surface of my skin and I feel
cleansed
if at least physically, hygienically.
I take this soap that floats in the tub -
driftwood -
and sharpen one of the ends to a point
then put it back on the ledge.

It is only so easy to have
a shiv to cut the grease.
What I need is
a knife to clean a life.

***



Hugh Le Caine was one of the pioneers at the forefront of creating music using post-war technologies, a.k.a. electronic music. Canadians are very well known in this movement, which has been translated commercially to DJs who play and mash tunes off their Macbooks to artists using synths and looping devices to create music. This piece was recorded from a since drop of water in the sink that was bothering Le Caine at night. As most artists understand, it is always at the most surprising and inopportune moment that inspiration flashes and so he seized the moment, grabbed a recording device and made that water drop digital. He used the computer to speed it up and slow it down, time the drops, basically do what any artist does to render his works to life. The result is this interesting moment in time, an auditory piece of history.