Voices
Chopin would tap keys, step on pedals—however hard
he wanted—to heighten and elongate pitch, sending waves
of sound and vibration through the hearing and non-hearing.
Navajo women beat time on a vertical loom, weave
Churro wool, aqua, mustard, rust-colored threads through warp loops
in figure-eight pattern, create storms, diamonds, eyedazzlers.
I want to learn instruments like these, release notes
to electrify one's soul, not draw intersecting lines,
patterns that lie dormant on a bed of whiteness.
Copyright © Michael Mastrofrancesco 2003