Poetry

Muses

Muses

He composed the piece for violabecauselike every composerwho ever composed a piece for viola,he was in love with a violist. I wonder if she knowswhat she createdas his muse. If she celebrates,Or sinks inside herself,when she hears the low C sing. The unmoved moverwith cause of attractionextracting beautyfrom the mind of the manwho remembers her…

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A Friend of Virtue

A Friend of Virtue

A friend of virtuedoesn’t wear the same size shoeOr sit in the cubicle next to you.She didn’t appear because you happened to be alphabetically compatible and sitting in a row. At least that’s not why she was chosen more than other people who wear size 9, or prairie dog in that long-forgotten secretarial pool, or…

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Handel’s Water Music at My Wedding

Handel’s Water Music at My Wedding

Full of joy and laughter and loveMy parents gave me few choresNo ultimatumsI never was groundedOr punishedI learned to criticize myself for every flawAnd correct others creating boundariesWhere I had none. My mother was a musicianA concert harpist who played in four symphoniesOf south LouisianaAnd weddings on most weekendsShe played nearly 10,000 weddings in 40…

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Movement

Movement

The first thing I learned about the violinWas to move my bow with the other bowsNot to position my hands, or count the tempoBut that the dance of the bow on the stringsAnd the look of the group mattered moreThan the sounds we produced.Making a note, and moving my bowI sounded like a dying catScratching…

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Let us not cling

Let us not cling

"The happiness of a tree that clings to its roots” wrote Nietzsche in 1873A hundred years before I was bornWhen the roots I would cling to were being formed. Let us not cling to the past that our foremothers wrought with iron and wood as they cut down the trees to build cabins that became a neighborhood. Let us not cling, but…

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Poets

Poets

Poets are thinkersMaking an argument For the story they see,Or the world as it should be. Angry, an optimistDisappointed, believerDescribing her hopes, scenesAnd all of her dreams.

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tempo

tempo

And sotempois onceagainmy FLAW Because I can't go slow and wait. And wait. Waiting for you to pace along And catch up.   It bores me.  

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Scab

Scab

Scratched at a scarTo find it a scabBleeding againLost in a name

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Gene is dead

Gene is dead

An old couple and their dog were found dead today at their house just up the mountain from me. Whether suicide or CO2, they died together.  My mother called me concerned about the dog, poor dog, she said. I said lucky dog,  you wouldn’t want to wake up with both your owners dead. She said…

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A brush with love

Instant love is attraction like a magnet Drawing you to your beloved in a momentWith the flicker of a smileAnd the scent of the agesPulling you in at first meeting. But, real love seeps into your lifeSlowlyDripping just a drop at a time.Never drinking from a fire hose.Always leaving you thirsty for more.

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