Saturday, January 20, 2007

Padre Played Guitar

The prophetic fingers of his right hand
catch the edge of each string
the precise tip of each finger
pulls the string true.
His wrist is a metronome
slowly gliding
back and forth
across the six strings.

His geometric left hand finds
the traditional forms:
right angle, triangle, straight line.
Line segment. Parallelogram.
These fingers step through the scale
to reveal the tune hidden
in the square grid.

His smoke-cured voice weaves the wire
where each note and word hangs.
The room is warm as whiskey
and I draw close to the tune.
I lean my head into the circle of notes.
Our voices wind together.
As padre plays guitar.


Padre's birthday was January 5; he would have been 78.

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