THE INVENTORS

That’s why they invented piano
To attach the silence between two sentences
That’s why they invented trees too
Crickets too

It’s the same reason that when you run your hands
Through air and space
There is sometimes a photograph
Tinted warm with faded yellows and reds
And sometimes the kid in the photo wears
His red striped tube socks high
And sometimes that kid is you

That’s why they invented canvas sneakers
That’s why cotton is a fabric and not a metal
That’s why steel isn’t clothing
And it’s stainless sometimes

Silence between sentences doesn’t need pianos
That’s what people who wait to speak are for
Sometimes they need photographs more than others
Anyway, they forgot what crickets and trees are for
And tube socks