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.