Z (February)

Z is for zip of breast pocket, zizz of beer can opening, zzzzzzz of a sleeping cable. Minor sounds, almost no sound, our breathing when we are thinking of something else. Tap of coathangers in our search for a shirt, tap of trapped leaf on windowpane, tap. Humble aitch sounds, as when a timber house cools after intense February days. The click of nail clippers. A is for away, the sounds ah! we see but do not anyhow hear. Sound of a plane that’s only a glint at 35,000 feet. Friday night restaurant seen from our passing car. Our heartbeat.