A Way with Words....

Crickets

Again and in the proper key, we are
The sound of a man’s back and the distance

That waits

And widens as he runs over us
Away from you, your screened porch,

And the glass of wine he dropped there,

Now a patch of splinters at your bare feet.
You could hurt yourself.  Be still

And listen.

There is no such thing as background music.
All day we’ve wanted this kind of attention,

But you were humming

A love song—then hoping to hear him
Sing the lyrics.  We wouldn’t dare let you
Out of the night without us.  Above us

You couldn’t even hear glass
Shatter, what you thought he held, broken.

—Jericho Brown