Apr 25, 2008

 

 
The conductor proscribes that the perfect critic
would only listen to the musicians tuning instruments,
and then leave with the music unheard.
Once, April surprises everyone by doing Thelonius.
She's allowed eleven minutes; she uses eleven
and a quarter. A French horn harrumphed.

  He allows her eleven minutes more.
  Now she's really expected to do it, to nail it in blood mist
  and bloom. Her eyes flutter and then she squints,
  raising her chin:

  Alpha-bits and libraries
      won't let me in
  the wind as it whispers without lie.

Harrumph, harrumph.