Klangfarbenmelodie

clock that measures the opposite of time
ancient pixel built from half a breath
the seed of a perfect moon

numbers don’t lie because they can’t tell the truth
the kindling space between a choice
& its airless shadow

a polite noumenon guides my dismay
with the grace of email for doves
originating in silence like all eternal things

joystruck demon of rain
the welas at the bus stop look like potatoes
in cellophane       the milk of their laughter

Anaisa’s mirror is her palm
a plangent yellow, bones of song
tracing lines of flight

Copyright © 2022 by manuel arturo abreu. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on June 7, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.

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“Klangfarbenmelodie (German for ‘sound-color melody’) is a musical technique that involves splitting a musical line or melody between several instruments, rather than assigning it to just one instrument (or set of instruments), thereby adding color (timbre) and texture to the melodic line. Serialists such as [Arnold] Schoenberg and [Anton] Webern are known for this approach to tone color. The technique is sometimes compared to ‘pointillism,’ a Neo-Impressionist painting technique. In this poem, I explore linguistic applications of this concept with reference to non-linear time, placemaking, and what Wilson Harris calls the ‘predatory coherence’ of quantized or Cartesian time (as opposed to Bergsonian ‘pure time’ or ‘duration’).”
—manuel arturo abreu