Erica Goss

Earth Hum

 
My ear’s to the ground. I measure the night in
terms of sound. My bones vibrate. Oceans fill

with noise. Rumbles reach me through
brains of whales. What music is this:

rhythmical, dense, composed by
machines talking in wavelengths.

Frequencies lower to darkness. Connections
cluster under my ear: aftermaths, murmured

confessions, insurgent seeds, germs of impractical
schemes, shudders of long-dead delight. Here I lie

in my floral nightshirt, earth humming all around, my
ear to the ground. I measure the night in terms of sound.

Erica Goss is the author of Night Court, winner of the 2017 Lyrebird Award from Glass Lyre Press. Her flash essay, "Just a Big Cat," was one of Creative Nonfiction's top-read stories for 2021. Recent and upcoming publications include The Georgia Review, Oregon Humanities, Creative Nonfiction, North Dakota Quarterly, Spillway, A-Minor, Redactions, Consequence, The Sunlight Press, The Pedestal, San Pedro River Review, and Critical Read. Erica served as Poet Laureate of Los Gatos, California, from 2013-2016. She lives in Eugene, Oregon, where she teaches, writes and edits the newsletter Sticks & Stones.