Empties

Modified image by Tika.Market, "Dusty Bottled trees," 2012

Jugband physics, this: what’s open and empty turns a breath
to song, the way wind fills the many mouths of a bottle tree,
or fills empty beer cans rolling down the block with wheezy
harmonics. In that same way I sing loud and off-key in the car
when alone: I’m drained but not crushed, and the motion of
even one cloud above me is enough to lift me, fill me like an
accordion until I exhale some lyric that hollows me out even
more. Oh toss the empties in the back, let’s keep on singing!