Headphones

Headphones

Facebook
Twitter
Email
Flipboard
Pocket

The French Revolution vanishes
into rain.

The cafe where Camille Desmoulins
jumped atop the table and roared is closed.

So too the one grocery store
in the Adirondack town.

Three years fade
into centuries of raised voices.

When I think “of my childhood”
what am I thinking?

Spiro Agnew’s widow died.
Everything a function
of stochastic patterns
this rain also obeys.

Can’t you hear it the unpitched wave soaking the spruce?

Can’t you hear them screaming?
Morton Feldman said
pointing below the Berlin pavement stones.

One deafens to live
till you’re deafened to all.

I’m canceling all the noise
my earthened ears bring me.

Thank you for reading The Nation!

We hope you enjoyed the story you just read, just one of the many incisive, deeply-reported articles we publish daily. Now more than ever, we need fearless journalism that shifts the needle on important issues, uncovers malfeasance and corruption, and uplifts voices and perspectives that often go unheard in mainstream media.

Throughout this critical election year and a time of media austerity and renewed campus activism and rising labor organizing, independent journalism that gets to the heart of the matter is more critical than ever before. Donate right now and help us hold the powerful accountable, shine a light on issues that would otherwise be swept under the rug, and build a more just and equitable future.

For nearly 160 years, The Nation has stood for truth, justice, and moral clarity. As a reader-supported publication, we are not beholden to the whims of advertisers or a corporate owner. But it does take financial resources to report on stories that may take weeks or months to properly investigate, thoroughly edit and fact-check articles, and get our stories into the hands of readers.

Donate today and stand with us for a better future. Thank you for being a supporter of independent journalism.

Thank you for your generosity.

Ad Policy
x