Catriona McAlister

Location: Barcelona, Spain

 

 

Cat McAlister is a Scottish poet, environmentalist, and engineer. She performs spoken word with the Barcelona Poetry Brothel (Prostíbulo Poético). Places her poetry has been published recently include the Libro Rojo vol.11, Whirlwind, Kosmos Journal and the Other Worldly Women Summer 2020 Anthology.

 

Date poem was written or completed: 18th May 2020

 

 

Barcelona, muted

 

 

When

will we oscillate as one,

ribs eased open by beats & strings & song?

 

In a reverberant space, the sound perceived

by a listener is a combination of direct and reverberant sound.

 

When

will I watch clouds of froth transform in my café con leche,

while knitting imaginary lives from strangers’ exchanges?

 

The ratio of direct sound is dependent on the distance between

the source and the listener, and upon the reverberation time in [the room].

 

When

will we sit on metal chairs in the tobacco breeze of Plaza d’Osca,

chinking glasses & mopping bravas sauce with commas of bread,

as children drop sugar bombs of ice cream on the ants?

 

At a certain distance the two will be equal.

 

When

will elbows scrabble

in a sidewalk written with cheeks & mouths & chins?

 

This is called the "critical distance."

 

When two metres

descends,

to none.