6 Notes

Oct 17 2011

The wind chime

has 6 notes.

They sound one-at-a-time,

like a clear bell

struck cleanly.

Or in volleys

too close to tell.

They reflect every nuance of wind,

speed, direction

and shift,

a percussionist

with no innate sense

of rhythm.

They sustain

bleeding into the next,

persist on eddies of air,

or abruptly vanish

ripped

out of ear-shot.

Overtones

cancel out, reinforce,

conjuring new sounds

never heard before.

There is no such thing

as pure vibration,

the naked tone.

Incredibly

these 6 notes

ring true

but never repeat themselves,

composing a constant stream

of new music.

A blizzard of sound

as different as falling snow

  —  a million frozen flakes,

divulging the wind

deadening noise.

The infinite permutations

of 3 molecules

6 notes.

The alphabet has 26.

Just imagine

how many poems.