Tuning the Wire

Night had settled over the garden, so I climbed from the picnic bench up to the tabletop to establish a vantage. Near the wooden slats lay a discarded wire twist-tie, stripped clean of its paper sheath. I straightened its kinks against the cedar wood, then secured one end under the steel lip of an upside-down soda can. Pulling the wire taut with my left gauntlet, I drew my thumb across the metal core. A crisp, low thrum echoed inside the tin hollow, lingering in the cool air like a steady cadence. I held the tension steady, letting the resonance mark the perimeter.