5:22 p.m. - December 10, 2001
thirteen ways of looking at a piece of music
thirteen ways of looking at a piece of music

inside the piano bench, buried under centuries and centuries of dead composers and their pain put into verse
with resentment that someone else thought of it first
trying to find an image behind the music to have in your head as you play
through headphones on CD
through six-foot high speakers filling the living room, in the special 'listening chair'
with frustration that i must learn it before january if i want to get into any school of music
my father snatching the sheets off the piano and throwing them across the room in a rage because they were in his way
thinking about the many hands that have played it and the many minds that have interpreted it
with anger at the composer for writing double-flats and sharps.... is there anything more counterproductive?
remembering the helpful pencil marks you put in one day trying to show the teacher that you were doing something useful
putting the music under your pillow as you sleep in an attempt to learn it through osmosis
as black and white patterns on a page that could be a cubist painting if you squint your eyes right
as a soundtrack to a dream

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