Film cans start to bubble.
Sculptures often crack.
Melt wax vinyl, melt the music.
Now it won’t be back.
Books tear, they burn, they turn to dust
on paintings mold can grow.
A theater performance
doesn’t last beyond one show.
Film stock, records, printed books
All of those things fade.
What’s left behind when these are gone?
The soulfulness you gave.
-Ben Johnson
Poetry