Love Song as Field Notes

In heavily-wooded sequences the song
…………… in my timed records
…………………………varies from 2 to 3 1/2 seconds
of notes burning down to a glow

………….In the space age of our courtship
……………………….our love wore a cocked beret
In the 18th century of our marriage
……………love enters

……………………….hat in hand
singing Where are my satchel
……………my whistle the times
……………………….we could not be apart?

Why did the wild
………….headdress fly off
………………………..permanent display?
Now we are talking through our hats

…………..We are walking up the driveway
………………………. with our haversacks
saying I’ll email I’ll text
……………Drive safely Drive for me…

………………………..Now our song
weighs enough to crack the spine
……………of a musical concordance
……………………….The odd thing is

my love for you is the offspring
……………of great disappointment
………………………..It penetrates the ovum
of my misconceptions—

……………whoever I think I am—
…………………………how is it you
who preserves my calm
…………..the way smoke quiets bees?

In conclusion, our song is 2 to 3 1/2
……………pages of secret clover
…………………………the first gold crocus
to alter light once bad weather’s over

……………and in all my timed records
………………………..your hands
are the day and the doorstep
……………chime. No they aren’t Shut up,

it isn’t Now
………....where shall we walk 
………………………after spending the winter
as larvae and as beasts?

JoAnn Balingit has contributed poetry and prose to Asian American Literary Review, The Rumpus, Verse Daily, Academy of American Poets and elsewhere. She’s the author of Words for House Story (2013) and two chapbooks. She is a 2019 Hedgebrook fellow, at work on a memoir.


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