In the past year my wife Sylvia has pulled back from her big
artistic projects and gone back to the piano, which took a back seat to her other pursuits in music and the arts for many decades. We recently found a picture of her at age seventeen standing next to her family’s piano in a dress she had made. Moreover, the picture contained the same book (John Thompson’s “Modern Course for the Piano”) that she has returned to now under the guidance of a teacher in our community. All of this led to a poem that might resonate for all of you who have taken up something that meant much in younger years and that can once again feed you in a new way. As they say in the fancy restaurants, “enjoy.”
Her fingertips caress the keys
exploring half-remembered chords,
hands travel over black and white
reflections of her hair…
Red Clay, Blood River
Yes, those Johnson girls… GO! One other correspondent reports that she also took up John Thompson’s book on returning recently to the piano. A life passage for sure.
I have added my recording of the poem to the post.
Bill:
Glad to see you getting back into your poetry
blogs. I look forward to them.
My sister Sylvia never ceases to amaze me. She’s never too busy, tired or whatever to start some major new endeavor and I have no doubts that she will conquer the piano as she has everything else she became interested in.
!!GO SYLVIA!!!