SWITCHEROO
Were we, to see in spangled air
Notes produced in symphony,
Could sense mutate from blare to glare --Know tunes as chromic macaroni?
Would Bach trace strong formal design
Along the lines of Mondrian --
Calm verticals contrasting to flat line?
Or would the pattern more be on
Wild graphics, strange and hectic;
Shapes, sharp cornered, disorganized, eclectic,
Thrusts of forms that ricochet in skews?
Or then again, suppose we switched other senses.
Instead of sight, suppose we funneled sound to taste.
What food could delineate the consequences?
Maybe blast out ballads with tomato paste.
Perhaps a salad -- olives and peppers
To simulate the immensities of death,
The sadness of a colony of lepers.
Could garlic add poignancy -- or just bad breath?
Scientists, these days, listen to the stars.
I wonder if the data could be transferred by cigars.