Page 91 of Wayfarers

a word from Music Theory II, meaning

note against note, both hands bearing

equal weight. This Bach feels good in my bones,

but I turn on Taylor Swift so I can sing.

Knox Lies

If we were to rank lies,

I think one of the most harmless

is pretending to be asleep

so you can keep listening

to someone sing like

you aren’t there.

Sylvie

“I still can’t believe I didn’t wake you up.”

“Maybe you just sing like an angel,” he says, stretching in his seat. “Like an angel of sleep. Also I didn’t know Taylor Swift wrote folk music? For some reason in my head I had her as a pop artist.”

“It’s folklore!”

“Is that a word people use for folk music?”

“Oh man,” I say. “Oh man.”

“What?”

“I mean it obviously makes sense, but . . .”

“What?”

“You don’t know anything about pop music.”

“I don’t,” he allows.

“Which means, by definition, that you don’t know anything about Taylor Swift.”

A pause. “Sylvie. Why is this such a big deal?”

“folklore is Taylor Alison Swift’s eighth album.”

“She has eight? I thought she was a country singer.”

“Hold on, I need to pull through McDonald’s and get a really giant Diet Coke. Call it a preemptive strike.”

“For what?” he asks, genuinely confused.

“Knox, I need ENERGY for this conversation.”

A LITTLE LATER