The Speaker is Listening to "Opus 23" by Dustin o'Halloran after an occasion of not seeing anyone for miles

by Spencer Silverthorne

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Opus 23 - Dustin O'Halloran

Dustin O’Halloran is an American pianist and composer with five acclaimed solo albums under his own name. He released his first EP Sundoor with renowned classical musical label Deutsche Grammophon in 2019, and followed that up with his solo album Silfur in 2021. He’s also a member of the band A Winged Victory for the Sullen with Adam Wiltzie, and they released their album The Undivided Five with Ninja Tune in 2019 and self-released their latest album Invisible Cities in 2021. ​

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0:01

Brown roof, blue roof,
Blue, blue, blue, brown
​
0:11

LOVER 1
What’s been whipped after years of neglect.

​0:25
​
Everyone minds
the difference
between the tenuous
and tender.

1:26

Everyone forgets
to mind the surge.

1:34

​LOVER 1
You had to catastrophize the measure of time.

LOVER 2
Friend, your candidacy is no longer under consideration.

LOVER 1
O Friend, your cadence tracked in mud from a stomp in the woods.

​1:52
​
Everyone flubs
their own farewell
to become a stranger.

LOVER 2
So, watch for the water moccasin.

LOVER 1
Everyone wants a problem if it means new tennis shoes.

​2:16
​
Pity these foals
trembling
in the midst
of these strangers’
passing wonder.

LOVER 2
Never be someone’s passing wonder.

​2:48
​
Vector, here and there,
with some fingers to the sky.
​
2:52

LOVER 1
...with hopes that the blame’s set for your natural comeuppance.

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Spencer Silverthorne (he/him) is a poet and PhD candidate in English and Creative Writing at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He's also the Poetry Editor at Rougarou: A Journal of Arts and Literature. His work has been published in Black Warrior Review, Dream Pop Journal, Gigantic Sequins, Sundog Lit, and Westchester Review, among others. Currently he is working on a full-length collection of poetry called Deep in the Pitch of Elsewhere.

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