Ballerina 12/24, Jake Tringali

Judith Nelson, Expectations, 1986, 22X26

 

*Poem read by Hayden Stern

 

Ballerina 12/24
 
here lies a broken body
    one of seven billion, mass-produced
    she dropped to the ground, never to move again
    alone on the wooden floor, approaching the apartment door
    gwendolyn was a shut-in
    never seen about town except
    trips to the bank on the first and fifteenth
    one off-balance slip, one slight break in her hip
    from her final pose, her hands arose,
    and knocked down an old intricate clock
    one of thousands from the german black forest
    not essential, inconsequential
    whose magic play was seen twice a day
    its shut-in dancing queen will nevermore be seen
 here lies a broken cuckoo clock
 
_____________________
Jake Tringali
 
*Author’s Note: Part of The Shredders’s Compendium of Poetry, a series of poems inspired by instrumental tracks from famous guitarists.  The title is a song track by Steve Vai.

 

 

 

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