We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.
/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

about

In art, "chiaroscuro" refers to the contrast of light against shadow (or vice versa) created by by the artist. This poem calls out light, the direction it comes from and way it falls unevenly sometimes. And how sometimes, you see things better (or just differently) in the dark.

lyrics

He flirts in my favorite way:
right out loud 
on the sidewalk,
streetlights putting a glow 
to our faces
as people we know 
walk by
in the dark spaces.

And it’s good this way.
We are nocturnal 
creatures shining
nocturnal eyes at each other.

By daylight we couldn’t see it.

It’s good this way. 


But if...

If we met some misty night in between
streetlights, 
tiny droplets refracting falling stars
right at eye level, 
blurring our vision and removing
all context, we could—

Duck into a bar and hide like prey

until the stoplights switch to flashing yellow.

After last call he could offer me a ride

and we could stop at the dam
where the lake yawns wide and black
except for the wink and nod of the city in reflection.

We could drink in his car until we are whisky warm

and the bottle and our throats are spent

and we touch hands by accident. 

We could swim naked as a dare

in the silver waters below the spillway
and dry our skin on the soft carnal grass.

When pre-dawn pinks the dark blue night, 

we could break west—outrun the rising sun
a hundred miles or so, shut the motel drapes 

for a weekend escape into cliches—

Hey, baby doll to burn-out in only two days...

We knew it was coming—a late Sunday drive 

back to that dive and an empty parking lot kiss

to swear no regrets and then—

And then we drive home in our own cars,

each of us alone as the ordinary yellow sun

bows her head to the dusk
and to the 
streetlights just coming on.

credits


Words by Anna Weaver. Music by Stephen "Doc" Hutchings. Recorded at Osceola Studios, Raleigh, NC, in December 2016.

Photo by Khachik Simonian on Unsplash.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

openmictourist image

openmictourist Raleigh, North Carolina

Poets Anna Weaver and Ben Molini and musician Stephen "Doc" Hutchings live, work, and collaborate in Raleigh, NC. As half of the acoustic duo FreeRadikal, Doc has recorded two albums, with a third in the works. Ben's and Anna's poems have appeared in journals, zines, anthologies, and elsewhere. Their creative partnerships took root and thrive at local open mic nights. ... more

contact / help

Contact openmictourist

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

openmictourist recommends:

If you like chiaroscuro, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featuring interviews with LA music scene pillar Kamasi Washington, and new London-based duo Mrcy.

listen now