Silence Taunts
The Universe: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
by Tracy K. Smith
The first track still almost swings. High hat and
snare, even
A few bars of sax the stratosphere will singe-out
soon enough.
Synthesized strings. Then something like
cellophane
Breaking in as if snagged to a shoe. Crinkle and
drag. White noise,
Black noise. What must be voices bob up, then
drop, like metal shavings
In molasses. So much for us. So much for the
flags we bored
Into planets dry as chalk, for the tin cans we
filled with fire
And rode like cowboys into all we tried to tame.
Listen:
The dark we’ve only ever imagined now audible,
thrumming,
Marbled with static like grisly meat. A chorus of
engines churns.
Silence taunts: a dare. Everything that disap-
pears
Disappears as if returning somewhere.