Poems

Find and share the perfect poems.

Klangfarbenmelodie

manuel arturo abreu

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

manuel arturo abreu is a Dominican poet and the author of two versions of a stone castle (United Re:public of the African Diaspora Press, 2022), among other titles.

About manuel arturo abreu

Themes

About this Poem

“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

Sign up for Poem-a-Day

More by this poet

Sound Has Ears

In the mercy of the more hollow sister 
A serene fog of moons sprinkled with plum
the vexed haint of Quasimoto is patient
her tongue leaps from her mouth like a tombstone
three times
Smooth as ash 
her favorite word is ‘apothecary’
the bliss in me like the interior of a melting fear
as she moves time with an even glance
the boorish anvil of rain as she leads me into a gully
farther into the hollow sister’s carny lungs
teaching me to hear in silence as hearts do

manuel arturo abreu

2019

Poems

Page submenu block

Klangfarbenmelodie

More by this poet

Newsletter Sign Up