Music May 2024
A Haunting by Mary Rohrer-Dann
A Haunting(Inspired by Beethoven’s “Ghost” Piano Trio in D Major) by Mary Rohrer-DannWind rattles the chimney as I unravel this old shawl to make socks for my daughter’s household. A ghost of anguished melody rouses. My granddaughter wails, tussles in the cradle at my...
All Roads by Jacqueline Goyette
All Roadsby Jacqueline GoyetteRome is in Valentina's blood. It didn't start out that way. At first, Valentina was only looking for a way out of small-town Italy – the sixth-floor apartment, overbearing parents, the kind of misunderstood that people feel at her age. In...
Closing Act by Noll Griffin
Closing Actby Noll GriffinThe shadows of bats swirling through the parking lot after the show looked like flimsy envelopes, falling at exactly the perfect angles to always function. I was never good at making my own envelopes, but I could somehow fold paper into...
Clubbing by Anna Fernandes
Clubbingby Anna FernandesYou’re lost now, aren’t you, in this cavernous club and you can’t find your friends, so you’re small, suddenly sober and unarmoured under the stuttering shards of light. The trick is to not look alone. And to not look like you’re looking. The...
Do You Realize? by Kevin Grauke
Do You Realize?by Kevin GraukeWrapped mummy-tight in the bright blue and pink stripes of every American hospital, you were the length of my forearm as I cradled you warm against me – you, this larval thing with a blooming human face of dark eyes staring studiously...
Fiddle Restoration: She to He by Sher Schwartz
Fiddle Restoration: She to Heby Sher SchwartzRead by Sher SchwartzAfter the fall, she took my parts to a luthier, neck snapped at the body, cracked, tailpiece missing. His long fingers wove me back together, but still I failed to sing her song again. Instead, a...
First Album by Lauren Tivey
First Albumby Lauren TiveyAt fourteen I’m enamored of the macabre, drawn to darkness, musical and otherwise. My friends are still listening to Shaun Cassidy – all that wholesome blond pop – which leaves me restless. One winter’s day my newly single hungover father...
Getting somewhere / I would have done anything by Amanda Conover
Getting somewhere by Amanda ConoverI build it all up, the way things will be once xyz happens, all three at once, all thirteen hundred at once. Ideal perception of the body, fulfilling career with absolutely no negatives, flawless friends according to my wishlist,...
In Tune with Limbo by Tinamarie Cox
In Tune with Limboby Tinamarie CoxHeadphones on ears, body in the grass, and though I’ve disappeared into a guitar’s melody – loud and fuzzy – combined with vocals that haunt me, I’m still wondering if the creatures of the soil living beneath my supine frame can tell...
Night Music by James Kangas
Night Musicby James KangasThe musicians assemble in their black chairs, black tailcoats, long black dresses. Themes from the far corners of the orchestral repertoire float into the air until the stage lights come up and the house lights go down. Silence. The...
Orpheus Drops a Wad of Cash by Terry Tierney
Orpheus Drops a Wad of Cashby Terry TierneyMy guitar journey began in 1970 under the constellation of Lyra and the hypnotic strings of Orpheus, but no stars were visible that afternoon when I found a paperclip of folded bills in the Cleveland train station. A twenty...
Standing By by Guy Biederman
Standing Byby Guy BiedermanThe voice on the radio says they love me as I wait for the music to resume, and then asks for a donation, any amount will do. Siggy from Sarasota comes through and receives a CD collection of Bach for their generous contribution. Against a...
The Music Did Not Stop by Angela Townsend
The Music Did Not Stopby Angela TownsendMom was in college and Daddy sold space, and I could always have one of them within one hour. This got me on the bus all November. The bus had changed. It was once my buttercup chariot. Florence the driver taught us the lyrics...
The night we drive through a Walmart Supercenter by Danielle McMahon
The night we drive through a Walmart Supercenterby Danielle McMahonNow Playing: Bruce Springsteen “I’m on Fire” The night we drive through a Walmart Supercenter, a red cartoon devil dangles from your rearview. A palm frond disintegrates on the blue dash. It’s...
