Audio Tape Poem by Glenn Bagshaw

REEL TO REEL—AUDIO TAPE

I pull it out of the drawer where all things
gone under go. The room tightens, silent,
but nothing’s repeated; and quiet sings,
I’m told, in choirs of thought. I’m content
to toss the spool—then I scan the label:
“Dad reads Annabel Lee”. The sheer air roars—
no vocal sound— Veins scream. I’m not able
to talk. Words drown when silence slowly pours.
.The tape player's stilled like this desk clock's own
hands: they death-grip noon –no twelve gasps to hear.
Reel and clock are thrown back, drawer almost sewn.
Yet no stuck door will stop a single tear.
If there’s a God, where's exclusion by choice?
For I listen: silence; listen: dad’s voice!