The Taxonomy Of Sound Poem by Michael Joseph Ferguson

the licking and lapping of a pomegranate -
a crimson yearning for the condensation
of the morning dew

a dog barking in the distance
is a yet to be unearthed miracle

mitigated against silence,

the creaking of millions
of houses, still making
their decision to settle
in one spot

or the beatific coronation
of endless car horns against
a beleaguered but
welcoming
sky

undulating ocean tides
lap and lament the births and deaths
of a billion sea creatures -
saline musicians
conducting their underwater symphonies
that push against continents
and the occasional
floating landmass

it's the sound grasses make,
rubbing up against their cronies -
the scratch beats of
slender green drums

or the startling absence of sound
as a moon careens, hovers,
and scatters across a
bewildered sky...

tonight,
one lucky soul
will have discovered sound,
as if for the first
time

and that will have been enough.