Deep black space is speckled with birdcalls and falling water
until an ominous boom looms and the drumming of
rat-a-tat-tat – insect infestation or insistent rain –
is jarring and subsides in the darkness
a piano perforates the heavy steely rumble of trains and
we tumble up the keyboard to dissolve into sparkles
tiny firefly chimes swarm a cathedral
where a thunderous bell tolls and a woman wails
darkness ripples with whispers speaking in tongues
abruptly interrupted from the other side of my brain
elephants thunder and skies rumble – those pachyderms
trumpet to each other, storming through the night
until the sun rises, shimmering, louder, brassy golden,
the sound of heat, radiant shimmer of a zenith.
Heather L. Kelly is a Canadian poet, arts marketer, educator, and music fan. She lives with her husband and small aquatic family members in Toronto. Her poem “Blackout Music” was inspired by a performance of John Oswald’s composition Blackout (during which the audience is submerged in music in a pitch-black visual void) at The Royal Conservatory’s 2016 21C Music Festival.