Thursday, November 19, 2015

The Orchestra

Young boy caught up in the orchestra, doing his silly little dance.
And when the crescendo comes
he is so scared.

The piano keys are black and white.
Black and white.
He doesn't understand when his father promises
he'll see gray someday too.

Mother calls her boy sweet 
his heart soars.
And it will always be between them,
because the beautiful orchestra?
It plays on.
And the flutes are so loud.


Human caught somewhere between the grips of boyhood and maturity;
Steps up for his chance to compose 
when the music goes quiet.
The flutes pay him no mind, and violins fight for attention in the chaos.

He never stands to compose again,
instead supports the presidential candidate 
who will fix it all.

Girlfriend breaks up, and of course nothing stays between them.
But the beautiful orchestra?
Relentlessly, it plays on.


Man sees his presidential candidate step out of office
eight years
three scandals
two recessions
and one war later.

The keys are all gray.
The piano too.

Waitress says he is sweet
and it doesn't stay anywhere meaningful at all.
Because the waitress? She has other orders to take.
And sweet? Sounds like an insult.

The ruddy orchestra plays on,
and he watches the silly little dances.
Just far enough away
that no one will think to pull him onto the dance floor.


13 comments:

  1. You manage to be vague and specific at the same time and it gives your writing power.

    "He never stands to compose again,
    instead supports the presidential candidate
    who will fix it all."

    I don't know why this paragraph hit me so hard. It makes me think of distractions in our lives and disappointment and things that pull us from what we were meant to do. Some of us were meant to compose.

    You were meant to compose.

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  2. There is a reason why you are one of my favorite bloggers.

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  3. eight years
    three scandals
    two recessions
    and one war later."

    Loved these lines!

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  4. you will be a blog that Nelson give examples from until the class doesn't exist anymore. some people were just made to create beautiful things and that is you.

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  5. "The piano keys are black and white.
    Black and white.
    He doesn't understand when his father promises
    he'll see gray someday too."

    This is all so sweetly sad.

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  6. i love the words. crescendo. orchestra. recessions.
    i love how each line is rather short & concise but you manage to tell a whole story.
    i love all the imagery you are able to project.

    beautiful as always.

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  7. Oh I love this. I'm gonna read it over and over and over again.

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  8. "The piano keys are black and white.
    Black and white.
    He doesn't understand when his father promises
    he'll see gray someday too."

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  9. this is amazing, i love this.
    so different and beautiful.

    you are so talented.

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  10. this was sooo good. i loved all of it. it was so creative

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  11. mmm, I read this a while ago and I was in a hurry so I rushed though it and moved on to the next blog and I didn't give it the contemplation it deserved and I'm sorry about that. But i read it again today, and man.. This kind of stuff is the reason your one of my favorites.

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  12. Dude your just the best. It's like there's an actual melody in the writing

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