Static Air

By Matt Freire

I was taking a bi-directional stroll through the city streets of Chico
My mind aloft and my feet ever so gravitated
Like a bouncing ball always coming back to earth
When I came to close to some birds’ sanctuary
And the lot of them pick up Out of the shrub and into the air
And I swear I heard your name in the rustle of their wings
And I watched them move in slow motion towards a pine tree
Where I left them to hide
And I continued on my journey to help me survive
And as I strolled I came to a pole
Sticking out of the ground about ten feet high
So I picked up a stick and just to hear the sound I swung
And some vibrations came
And I swear I heard you name
So I hit the pole again
But your name did not come
And all that ejected was just a low hum
Of a freshly stricken pole
So I carried on beating the pole
To hear your name again
And on the fourth try the stick cracked with splintered shards raining on the ground
And I swear I heard my name
So I moved on in a schematic fashion
Gliding over the cracks in the side walk as if they were lasers
And as if I did not want to loose a limb
And then the cracks changed to be solid ground
And the cement squares became static air
And I did not want to become a little spec of static interference so I quickly reversed my walk
To land on the solid lines trying not to fall into static air
But eventually I failed
So I went back to the lines being electrical wire
And even just a little touch of the wire I would be jolted into stillness
And I continued on this way and made my way to the Esplanade
And as I started to cross the street the wind picked up
And the leaves began to whisper
And I swear I heard your voice talking to me
So I stopped to listen to your voice then the noise became muted
As a truck honked its horn for me to get out of its way
And I swear you had something good to say
So I quickly made haste out of its way
To try and catch just a word of what you were saying
But by the time I stopped and cupped my ears to hear
The breeze had stopped and the air was still
So I continued on in my bifocal way
My mind still imprinted of you
And my feet still marching to the tune of the meandering man
And I do not say all this to dismay any thoughts of my sanity
I just have a four-letter word that’s growing up inside of me
And I have already received the L and the O
But there are just some things I fear
And I must know
I have never been in love
And there are just so many things I just don’t know
Like how do you really know if you love some one?
Well I know all the text book answers but
Really I just don’t know
But I think I’m close and that scares me even more
So my feet take me to a restaurant for automobiles
And I watch bipeds pumping gas
And I gazed toward the earth and followed the gas as it wines it way through a puddle
And I swear I saw your face
In the in blues and reds and yellows
And yes with the thought of you I did drift like a balloon
And yes I wished to be with you I admit it its true
And yes you disjoint the order of my life because now theirs a purpose in it
And yes you make me smile like no amount of drugs could do
Like no amount of theme park rides could do
Like no amount of oxygen to keep my lungs in tune
So I could say what I want to you
And fume what I want to you
Because you have always been true
And you have always let me spit and vent on you
And you have always brought light when you enter the room
You dispatch the doom
Even if the doom is so great that I can’t even see an inch in front of me
And I tighten my muscles and I elevate my arm
And put my hand in front of my face
But I can not see my hand and all I see is black
But I can feel my shallow breath
And it scary to think that this could be death
And then in my darkest doom she appears
She dis-lodges a bit of matter
To over shadow the clamor
And with darkness I still stammer
And she pulls out a glowing white hammer and she builds a chair
For me to rest my fears
And she builds a hammock
For us to rest all of our cares
She’s like a gentle warm snow flacks
Or a cool breeze in the smoldering summer air
And I picture her and I smile at the way her mouth grins when she talks about something funny
And I smile at the way her hair sweeps across her face in the wind
And I smile at the way she sez my name when we are alone
And I smile because I picture her smiling
And turn and I see a clock and I frown
Because life is just a clock
But when she’s around time to me
Well I just don’t care
And I know I received the V and the E
But I’m still scared so can you help me
Help me walk freely down the street
Help live life and stand on solid ground
And not fall off into static air and if I get jolted into stillness
At least I know you where once there