MONDAY: Fred, Half Dead, Beethoven in his Head

BY HOLLY DAY

Copyright is held by the author.

You can’t talk to Beethoven
on a bus stop in Chicago
because you’ll just get lost.

Lauded as a genius,
he can’t give good directions
because he’s dead.

Ask Fred about Beethoven
his hands waving wildly with excitement like
the vibrations coming up through his feet.
conducting symphonies in an empty room.

Fred will tell you how planets hum
give directions to angry flocks of pigeons
lecture on string theory
like harpsichords, and how Beethoven was more
of a transcriber than a composer.

I picture the two sitting together
lost in deep conversation.

2 comments
  1. Another wonderful poem by Ms. Day.

  2. I liked its brevity.
    I would like to have a conversation with Fred.
    Well done!

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