So many voices singing so many songs
It all gets blurred so I can’t follow along
So many voices singing all at once
Creating a new language of united force
It isn’t always necessary to hear each word
When you feel a beat pulse inside your head
Some sounds will pull you into somewhere else
So many voices singing will open up your ears
To things you’ve never heard before
And let you rearrange your fears
So many voices singing so many songs
Harmonizing as the beat keeps going down
So many voices singing so many songs
Until the songs come down to just one in the end
That song that starts with each first breath
And doesn’t end until the final death
So many voices singing the same song
Listening to each other to follow along
So many voices singing the same song
David Trudel © 2013
Harmonic Balancer
A harmonic balancer is connected to the crankshaft of most engines
To reduce torsional vibrations and to be the pulley for the drive belts
I had never heard of such a thing
Since one had never needed to be replaced on any car of mine
Which is the only way I know about car stuff
By having to pay outlandish bills for parts unknown
I happened to see Bob my neighbor with the hood up
We started talking and he mentioned harmonic balancer
Whoah! WTF
Harmonic balancer made me think of some kind of Tibetan temple
Resonating with the thousand prayers of the robed faithful
I learned it’s true that at certain engine speeds the torque from the cylinders
Becomes synchronized with the vibrations in the crankshaft
Resulting in the phenomenon of resonance
Resonance that the crankshaft can’t withstand
I understand that cranky process
Having had both a marriage and a career suffer harmonic catastrophe
I get the chronic impact of torsion and tension
Of being twisted into an unbalanced state
I know the horror of watching cracks develop
As energy builds up through lack of dissipation
Age, heat, cold, or exposure to oil or chemicals play their part
In the inevitable crankshaft failure
Which can be pretty spectacular
So I am developing my own harmonic balancer
Damping vibrations rhythmically
As I fire on all cylinders, barely resonating at all
Stress free
David Trudel © 2013
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Filed under Poetry
Tagged as balance, blank verse, divorce, failure, free verse, harmonic balancer, harmony, metaphor, poetry, resonance, social commentary, stress, tension, torsion