Faculty Recital Series
February 21, 1996

I.

R.S.

remain the same


poison of alcohol
opium dream

dead-wet winter leaves

layered in the park
left of the column

giving it a real runthrough

without sleeping eccentricity....

Without animation
without animosity or


hesitation

in profile
in perpetuity

at a glance

Polish, or seeming so,

hair the bright red of an Irish lass
thin, long neck and sharply-defined jaw

perceives a lingering scene
a rushing, tumbling stream
pure

sincerity of composition and

interpretation not to be questioned

tip

of her long nose
seen from rear three-quarter profile
protrudes beyond

thin cheekbone

fluorescent pallor

pulse at her temple

a thoughtful passage

fades to applause

II.

intermezzo


a note rolled into a ball


flipped from the second balcony


lands in her hair and

remains there


until intermission when


unknowingly

she brushes it to the floor


as she adjusts her barette


It remains there

(on the floor)


to be picked up and read

by the white-coated cleaning man

a secret that remains a trifle


to this illiterate man

who shrugs

and goes


home to watch

the hockey game on TV.





III.
quartet

her voice curdles within the sound of strings

as the cello breaks

(a string)

and retires to replace it

auburn hair

perfectly shaped, trimmed and tinted

above fur-lined leather hood

beats imperceptably to the churning rhythm

(but I see she is not beautiful when we leave)

resuming, each turns a page in

succession

the voice ascends

the rumour of a faith begins again

I did not see it; but I heard it

(he cares for her well--

he in his herringbone jacket and pink shirt

tanned scalp beneath thin grey hair)


It is the end

these are the decadents

dreaming of sacrifice in a foreign land

---

	Return to
John Fowler's Homepage	or	GRIST Publishing