A Need for Melancholy

There are times I can only tolerate music 

that is terrible in its melancholic intensity.

It is when I feel things are most real and

not something to be swept under a rug

like an infectious pop tune painting crazy

colors that I do not see in the world, my toe

tapping like the twitch of a dying man’s foot.

Melancholy is like salt that burns the tongue

yet brings out the fullness of a food’s flavor.


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