THE PIANO TUNER

Bong....bong....bong...ping....ping

Dong....dong......bing bing bing...

The piano tuner is here
    I am drinking coffee
at my writing desk
    and listening.

After forty-five minutes...
    ding...ding......ding
He's still at it.

The tones all sound just alike
    to me, tho' I'm a musician--
(I did think I heard an A-flat
    awhile ago.)

I'm not sure what all this repetition
    tells him
but he is getting the piano
    back in tune.

Now I read a lot of poetry
    since I got older and wiser (?)

I read Emily Dickenson
    I read Marianne Moore
         I read William Carlos Williams.

and it might be said that I am a
    voracious reader of books.

but these poets, with the exception
    of Williams are almost impossible
to understand.

There is a truth I have learned---

The brilliant metaphors of poetry
    the alliterations
the onomatopoeic sounds
    new, unknown words
words not often heard
    unusual speech patterns.

and even meanings not grasped
    or perceived---

like the sounds of the piano tuner---

all these things smooth out
     the wrinkles and bumps
in my thoughts...

and they tune my mind.

*******30******
BY MIL
5/02/14