TUNING UP

Warming-up is a crazy cacophony,
But the tuning-up is a serious ritual test:
The timely quietening, the concert master’s
Noble entrance, applause acknowledged: we hear

The oboe’s A for reeds and brasses; the strings
In responsive unison for the A and ensemble
For other open tones. The assistant principal
First, rarest of beauties, betrays a shocking

Frown as she concentrates on the subtlest tightening.
Would she look different if she’d gotten news
Of a parent’s sudden cancer, or husband’s losing
His job? Being in tune is mythic, uniting

The masses of music-makers, the listeners too,
With the core of discourse, as in “I love you.”

(90, March 11, 1993)

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