ofmiceandmen?

Dear readers,

Today's hsbc concert was exhilerating -the entire experience of preparing and playing in it has shown tkwek another facet of the Singaporean music circle - one that is far (or maybe not quite so far) removed from the official auspices of the schools and National orchestras.

Anyhow, a number of poems came up today, and tkwek would like to share them with you. enjoy! (AND PLEASE DO READ ALL THREE X) as well as those in the post below)

The quality of mercy is not strain'd.
The Straight Times Editor.



Waiting

Praying hard
in the cold drizzle
for the red man to turn green –
is like waiting
for her answer,
for an eternity;
but only hearing the
steady beep of a
‘no’.

There are a thousand shades of grey,
but only one of scarlet.

I thought -

I think –
you understand me best, because
it is through your silver nib
that my thoughts burn paper.

I think –
your amber cap was borne
from the same inspirations as
thinking caps;
and your cartridge
holds the same knowledge as
the ink that filled the
bellies of the ancients.

I think –
you are a best friend,
lover, confidant, and
the twentyfourhour megaphone of my soul
all rolled into one.

I think –
therefore I write.


Waiting as they shift the piano

i. Waiting

it has been a week since
I was last here. The same
wood floor,
riddled with
the tracks of countless careless
musicians; the same
glaring spotlights, that have
illuminated a million and one
violins; the same
conspicuous splotch
of brown stain on white floral design, that
an anonymous artist once spewed
in a fit of
anger – or art.

It is not déjà vu that envelops me,
but homecoming.



ii. as they shift

It takes three men to shift a Steinway.
They wheel it
gently – the orchestra’s beloved
(but overgrown)
adopted child, into the cradle
of the stage.

Under the stern gaze of the organ’s
forty-two metallic eyes.




iii. the piano.

Encore. Four strings and a bow,
dancing
in a thousand spotlights. That
moment of double-harmonic awe
transforms Paganini into the
epitome of man and machine.
Of mind And music.

A chord. Stunned perfection.
The heart does not wait before crying.