Singing Steel Strings
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Submitting for The Lark’s poetry competition
My fingers dance, prance
To melodies birthed from a heavenly jazzman
Notes newborn, airborne
From calloused fingers worn
By the years of sliding, gliding
Across singing steel strings
Ego evaporates, my mind misplaced
I’m lost in space
Each new note is a surprise
An exclamation point in a child’s eyes
I no longer occupy space and time
No reason, no rhyme
Still, the notes float
Free forming, unbound, they gloat
Begging for an ear to hear
Uncertain what will next appear
Unrelenting
Each note experimenting
At the urging of a spark from soul
To tell a story yet untold
Bodiless, I soar
Searching for the perfect score
The one misplaced chord
Yet unexplored
Spiritual ascension turns to descension
My fingers no longer soul’s extension
I return from a higher dimension
The welcome victim of spiritual intervention
© Joe Merkle 2022 All rights reserved
This poem was inspired by Denise Larkin and this poetry competition in The Lark. Thank you Denise for this timely competition. I desperately needed a push to get back to writing again.
Since my wife’s death fourteen months ago my guitars have meant more to me than at any time over the last 57 years I have been playing. Moments just like the one described in this poem help me rise above the sense of loss to share in a higher state of consciousness. Even if it is just for moments.
The challenge goes out to some friends I have been ignoring for too long. I…
