Crystal radio

I do not understand.

Copper wire wound tight

On toilet tube core.

Brass button slider on the copper

Tuned to roots and water.

Green wire vines

Binding slider to thirsty crystal.

 

One wire pinned to the ceiling

One wire tied to the metal bedpost

Aerial and Earth

Not machine but plant

Branch and Root.

 

Strange plant

I do not understand you.

No batteries, no plug

No key to wind, no wheel to turn

Nothing to fuel, power, charge.

You suck your life from the air

Like desert cacti living

Without rain, stretching

Tiny hairs to the dust wind

Catching water on the breeze.

 

I put the single piece to my ear

Snapped the switch, pushed the slider

Through dust wind static.

Tiny hairs reached out,

Voices were drawn from the quiet

And the air sang.