… David Kosofsky — she’s writing a eulogy for him, and wants to quote some things – UD discovers a poem she forgot she wrote.
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SONATA FOR UNPLAYED PIANOS
“Many wealthy Chinese who could not play the ‘qin’ would hang one on the wall as a badge of status, not unlike later bourgeois displays of elegant but unplayed pianos.”
The grands are massive,
One half of a living room,
In which, keyed up, highly strung,
They stay outwardly impassive,
Ready for anything from a sonic boom
To the accompaniment of something sung.
The baby grands, fully a third of the study,
Seethe under plants and family photos.
Their felt’s a mouse’s nest
And someone let their ivory get muddy.
Maudlin, they play themselves con moto,
Annotating everything before the full rest
That put even the spinnets to sleep,
Those thin inoffensive standup numbers,
Happy to do vaudeville or other light patter –
Anything to keep
From tonal slumber.
Chopsticks, for that matter.
October 3rd, 2011 at 12:50AM
Give me an honest, and proletarian, Yamaha U2 upright. Almost a grand with wonderful sound – if you lifted the lid – and keyboard action.
For David and you, UD: Requiescant in Pace.
October 3rd, 2011 at 3:13AM
Thanks, Bill.