When The Music Is Good

By Kevin Masmela

Sometimes the music’s so good you have to close your eyes—

your mind vacations inside as if you’re back in bed with your Beats in,

as your heart beat plays the melody Spotify suggested for you this year.

You inhale a bit of second hand vape & all of a sudden the scent of strawberries

isn’t as good as you remembered it being. A quick shove, nothing too aggressive

so you continue your sidestep under the music’s sway, while sweat tickles

your side burns & the vibrato numbs your brain. Your feet, by now, are

deaf from the music & you find your heart beating faster than it normally should...

How-are-we-all-feeling-out-there?!

Your body language says it all; the movements of someone hypnotized

by a couple synthesizers, upper eyelids fluttering as if you were dreaming

lucidly, extended arms trying to reach the lasers scissoring the sky.

Your eyes remain shut, but your torso wiggles its way toward the front,

shoulders meeting shoulders, palms meeting rail—

then, finally, a moment of silence seduces your insides;

the part of the song that allows the beat of your heart

to take over for six seconds, eyes still closed (five),

body possessed (four), hands in the air (three),

now scream (two), till your lungs give out—

By Kevin Masmela