{"id":376,"date":"2006-11-18T14:39:12","date_gmt":"2006-11-18T19:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/2006\/11\/18\/water-works\/"},"modified":"2006-11-18T14:39:12","modified_gmt":"2006-11-18T19:39:12","slug":"water-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/2006\/11\/18\/water-works\/","title":{"rendered":"Water works"},"content":{"rendered":"

The sun has been up for an hour
\nand so have I
\nslept for
\nalmost five hours last night
\ndreamed of a snake
\nthat wanted to wrap around my throat
\nthis’ll soothe the singer’s apprehensions<\/em>
\nit kept hissing
\nand in the background
\na soft voice
\nour Chorus Director’s
\nscreaming hydrate! hydrate! hydrate!<\/p>\n

The hollow cavern in my gut
\nis almost as large
\nand empty as the rotund belly
\nof the auditorium
\nand just as
\ndark and menacing
\nexpectant
\nin the distance, water trickling<\/p>\n

I am starting to tune in
\non all the people who will come:
\nI can hear their voices
\ncoiling slithering in the silent hall
\na muddle of thoughts
\ndisparate expectations
\ntuning their doubts
\nlike an orchestra
\nrunning diverse random scales
\nas the audience rattles programs
\nsipping water from plastic bottles<\/p>\n

But we sing acapella
\nthere is no orchestra
\nto tune:
\njust our voices
\nLead Tenor Baritone Bass
\nHydrate, hydrate, hydrate
\nour Director exhorts us:
\njust a light meal
\nno dairy products
\nand hydrate! hydrate! hydrate!<\/p>\n

I hope the dressing room
\ntoilets work
\nwith all the hydration
\nthere’s going to be a need.<\/p>\n

My voice is a well-
\nlubricated machine
\nliquid in its smooth transitions
\nmy pitch is dead on
\nI run over the score in my head
\nbetween sips<\/p>\n

My bladder is loving
\nall the attention;
\nmy kidneys are
\nless enthusiastic;
\nmy voice
\nrecalls strictures:
\nwrestling with
\nmy animated scarf<\/p>\n

As the day drips towards
\nthe opening notes
\nDescartes sustains me:
\nI drink; I sing; I am \u2014 I think.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The sun has been up for an hour and so have I slept for almost five hours last night dreamed of a snake that wanted to wrap around my throat this’ll soothe the singer’s apprehensions it kept hissing and in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riverwriter.ca\/wordcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}