Not sure if the screech
as we try to sing along
to a song on the radio
is meant to indicate
approval for our obvious
sophisticated voices
or a request for us
to tone it down as she
absorbs the melody
for herself to take in
perhaps she is not
even listening to us
and just presumes we
operate on a different
frequency and are trying
to distract her from
embodying the music
to suit her inclinations
every time she sings
it seems she needs less
someone to sing along with
so keep it under your breath
Tag: Music
-
Singing Lessons
-
Psycho Killer
Working under the assumption
things can’t possibly have taken
place as long ago as they are
like that song on the radio basic
arithmetic dictates occurred half
a century ago until we heard it
because somehow we missed
all the intervening years moments
as lost as long as that one endures
because experienced just a second
ago who is to say we are the ones
who live life as it is lived not the clock
that is always two faced one hand
moves much slower than the other
my face resembles my youth just
as much as my aged father did
now I can’t count how many faces
I see in my child at every age there
seem so many even as we count
on less than one hand the years
that pass asking where did they go
where do we go now
-
You May Be Right
It is probably true
in fact it is most
certainly true
having a child
brings you back to
your childhood
in sharper relief
see that pop star
playing the garden
for the hundredth time
songs you used to
carry with you
in cassette form
to elementary school
the first music
you called your own
turns out thousands
felt much the same
some much younger
than you sing along
since you know how
they feel you know
I may be crazy
how to pass it along
-
Talks About Music
Still growing cautious
of introducing our child
to cultural artifacts we know
are unrecoverable, even as
I scour the library book sale
for a second day searching for
what I remember. What will
we do when she becomes
so attached to them she wants
to meet them, hug them
in a full spontaneous embrace
as when the six year old pianist
Niki Hoeller was so overwhelmed
by meeting Mister Rogers
and playing for his television
neighbors and operating trolley,
Niki needed to hug Mister Rogers,
however awkwardly, upon leaving.
Or when in the very next visit
Mister Rogers himself so overcome
with the emotion of Yo-Yo Ma
playing the cello he felt the same
impulse to embrace the musician.
I remember what might have been
a created memory, a cassette tape
of my brother meeting Mister Rogers
and saying “I love you” to him
and Mister Rogers saying the same
in reply. I have no idea if such
a cassette even exists in our history
or if I may have witnessed
such an occurrence on TV
and transposed the moment
as familial. Our child now sings
Mister Rogers songs in a medley
of her own making, letting one word
prompt her to another song
with the same word. Little wonder
then when she gives us a big hug
we are grateful at our meeting.
Joshua Keiter 