The Lost Country

Fall 2015 • Vol. 4, No. 1

issn 2326-5310 (online)

Odes to Effects Pedals

By Simon Mermelstein

This work was published in the Fall 2015 issue of The Lost Country. You may purchase a copy of this issue from us or, if you prefer, from Amazon.

Chorus

Underwater consensus
a wash of many
different voices each saying the same thing differently
a house built from each timber
the sound of every

Reverb

backs of walls and concert halls
& ancient caves converted into a circuit
soaked from stepping in the same river twice

Looper

Sysiphus is my sideman

Phaser

offset perfection
cosmic oscillator simulation
sitars & the sounds of vowels
catscratch. the depth of tremble
in tune with the universe

Wah-wah

funky breath fresh out the devil's mouth
the nastiest jawbone since Samson slew a thousand
I am one who has eaten the sun howling at the moon

Distortion

slicing off the tops of mountains
I swallow signals whole
and spit out
oceans of sweet frequencies
I am beauty found in jagged places
I am destruction / rebuilding / in my own image
I have holes in me but I sound better than ever