When I was a young, young child,
The radio would turn me into a superhero.
Not like a comic book or movie superhero, 
But the kind you would see on the Science channel in today.

And while other kids would read their comic books exclusively,
Their parents’ obnoxious Grown-Up Rock playing in the background, quashing their fantasy,
A much different scenario would construct across the street, at my house.
Instead of looking at colorful pages in my hands,
I would turn off the lights in my room, sit on the ground in front of my radio,
And leave the room completely dark.
It was then, when the music pumped through my radio
that I saw true colors; the kind that couldn’t be appreciated on paper.

When I sat in my room, in front of my radio, in the developing dark
My entire room became a radio negative.
My entire room became a three-dimensional picture, like a photograph,
That couldn’t come into contact with any external light,
Because it would distort the internal light captured within the image.

I would sit down in front of this radio, and would emulate my heroes to the music.
I would look at the speakers bumping, and would swear I could see the sounds
And I would hear the colors the light would admit in return.
It was an infinitely branching process.
It was then, whenever I was in the dark, 
that I could see why my peers couldn’t enjoy the music.

They heard their parents’ music interrupting their focus on the colors at which they looked,
And have failed to realize that the range of music isn’t limited to audible sound.
With music, with spoken word, with expression, all senses are to be taken into account.
Music is meant for you to see the picture the artists paint for you,
And you need to trust in them to lead you a gorgeous backdrop.
Music is meant for you to smell the nostalgia of places you’ve only rarely visited,
And you need to trust in them to give you a one-way ticket back to that location.
Music is meant for you to feel the treble and bass against your back and chest
And you need to trust in them to bring you an involved intensity, even on your bedroom floor.
And most importantly, most encompassing,
Music is meant to take a photograph that will last you until the next time you admire the picture
And you need to trust in them to not trap only a light, but the entirety of a moment.

And if you can realize that, you too can have—
Or at least emulate—
The sensory masterminds you see on TV Science documentaries
Who use their synesthesia with which they were graced at birth to become superheroes.
If you can appreciate such a synesthesia,
I’m sure that you, too, can understand 
That music, like all other forms of poetry,
Are meant to be, not used for fading effect, but rather admired,
like a photograph.

This poem © Kevin Blain Harrison. Published Dec 12, 2011