STRING THEORY
by Ronald Wallace
I have to believe a Beethoven
string quartet is not unlike
the elliptical music of gossip:
one violin excited
to pass its small story along
to the next violin and the next
until, finally, come full circle,
the whole conversation is changed.
Chelanne has the Poetry Friday roundup this week at Books4Learning.
Love this poem, Mary Lee, for lots of reasons. The marriage of science and music, the clever title, the poignant ending.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this wonderful poem. As the best poems do, it makes me see things in a new, unexpected way. I, too, love the link between science and music.
ReplyDeleteOh, I do believe music has the power to keep us together when the world is flying apart. Music has saved me again and again, that's for sure. Thank you for sharing! xo
ReplyDeleteMusic and poetry together. Yum.
ReplyDeleteAppreciations for this musical interlude. And for the poem.
ReplyDeleteIt lifts me up & I'm sure, everyone who listens & reads.
Happy Friday! Yay for music and for string theory.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe I'll ever hear violins again without thinking of that gossip buzzing, Mary Lee. The ending fits today, too, sadly.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing a piece of encouragement. I love the idea of words and music together. I think there's something there for our student's to ponder and try.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of the promise of music. In the beauty, perhaps we can make sense of it all.
ReplyDeleteYes. "At work in the deep heart of things" holding us together as things fall apart.
ReplyDeleteAlso, that must be one of your photos of tendrils on a chain link fence, eh? Beautiful poetic addition to a beautiful poem.
Thanks, Mary Lee.
Good eye, Steve. From my poem "Homesick," but a season or two later.
Delete"...the morning glory vines
have locked the back gate."
Ah, yes. I loved those lines. Knowing this makes everything so much sweeter.
DeleteYes, I have to believe that too!
ReplyDeleteBring on Beethoven, things certainly seem to be falling apart..and fast.
ReplyDeleteThis one fascinated me when I first read it on WA. Love the interplay of word expressions ("string theory") combined with the almost audible gossip of the buzzing strings.
ReplyDeleteI have read this about five times. I love the idea of something keeping us together when everything is falling apart (because it definitely seems that way this summer), however, I can't quite get the juxtaposition of gossip, which isn't a positive thing, with that. I love the way this poem sounds.
ReplyDeletethe elliptical shape of gossip.
ReplyDeleteI read the whole poem....but that first stanza could stand on it's own for sure.
Fun, full of energy as a quartet...yet there is the bass of full meaning underlying all.
the elliptical shape of gossip.
ReplyDeleteI read the whole poem....but that first stanza could stand on it's own for sure.
Fun, full of energy as a quartet...yet there is the bass of full meaning underlying all.
Look at all those swimmers, relay racers, gossipers, tale-tellers, vibrating fast-dancers moving the world along, tying it all together in color!
ReplyDeleteA perfect poem for these times in our country.
ReplyDeleteMusic, for me, is the most fundamental of the arts. It is primal since it can be felt deep within the body (especially at a large symphony performance, or at a parade).
Music truly does bring us together. This poem is brilliant, and I love how you've woven an image, words, and music together to illuminate "the deep heart of things".
ReplyDeleteThank goodness for "busybody Beethoven"! (and Wallace!) Thanks for sharing, Mary Lee! =)
ReplyDelete