JOHN DUVERNOY

[The music was covered in fur. the fur was]

[At the edge of the music, a well.]

[The music was wounded, it warbled mucus. the mucus]

[The music was hiding in a sack of flour. there was]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The music was covered in fur. the fur was

falling out in tufts. in the exposure where the

tufts had been, bees swarmed. the bees flicked

their honeyed legs across the surface of the music.

the music shivered. the tufts lay in the dust, black as

oil. red ants came on. the sky, once remote, drew in

on the music. puddles parted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the edge of the music, a well.

at the bottom of the well, a way.

the way was paved with mistranslation, tape hiss.

sex and/or electricity was a wave within the way,

welling up until it drenched the music, blurring every

edge. hence the mistranslation, the reverb.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The music was wounded, it warbled mucus. the mucus

was contagious, warping sound wherever it smeared.

smear-field, implicating the weave of the modal fabric.

red ants arrove and bent to work unraveling. above the knees

the clouds darkened. in the ditch, the music, its sides heaved.

the many red tongues pushed in and out. a practiced imitation

of listening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The music was hiding in a sack of flour. there was

a blue sky stain on the cellar floor. the stain seemed

to be leaking from an impaled one-winged bird. grey and

speckled, as though dusted with flour or drowned by cloud,

its posthumous flapping stirred a hot wind throughout the room.

the wind diffused the blue sky stain and enflamed the music hiding

in its sack. above ground there was nothing, just the red ants lining

up to be soothed.