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Florence Weinberger - Peter Serkin at the Libbey Bowl in Ojai, CA |
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Picking up each nugget of a note with wonder,
examining its facets, where it gleams, where it ends,
its composer a teacher he needs to please,
Serkin plays as if he has never engaged a piano before,
so at the close of a phrase or before he nods to the woman
turning his pages, a faint smile betrays his pleasure;
though we know from the program notes this piece was written
for him, his demeanor hints that he has only in this instant,
in this very public place, discovered how a note sounds
after he places a finger just so; just begun to understand
what happens when he varies his stress with each key.
The pieces he plays are subtle and still, his body’s drawn in,
not coiled with tension or sprung with impulse, but studied,
sent deep to retrieve his black pearl of truth.
It is the child maturing in our hearing. We are outside.
There’s a light breeze. It is night. We are his.
Florence Weinberger is the author of three poetry collections: The Invisible Telling Its Shape (Fithian Press 1997), Breathing Like a Jew (Chicory Blue Press 1997), and Carnal Fragrance (Red Hen Press 2004). She has published poetry in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including Comstock Review, Antietam Review, and Solo.
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