there is a recording
of the last Kaua’i ‘ō ‘ō bird
calling to another bird
who no longer exists
born to crave another
made to want that unity
dying with a song on your tongue
because you are alone
no face to find in a fleeting crowd
no future
I think too of how it must have felt
to record that
to capture the sound of infinite longing
of wanting what cannot ever be
and then to catalog it
as a thing we destroyed
did the cataloger weep
like I do now
as they labeled the recording
understanding how much
we have yet to
lose?
(July 2023)
If you really want to exercise your tearducts, here’s the same story but in Brazilian funk-tinged EDM. No, seriously.
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