Challenging Poetry

the sound of a bass clarinet

I watched Fantasia as a child,
so I was prepared when sounds
had color and shape, but the sweet
chocolate taste of a bass clarinet solo
surprised me when my sister first
picked it up to play. Sometimes,
when I crave something dark and sweet,
I close my eyes, and the soft, spiraling
bronzes of it play behind my lids
and across my tongue.

April 23—Synesthesia, sort of—turn something into something else for some reason (to better understand it, to see it differently, to cope, to escape pain, to glory in description or metaphor, or just the reality of it).