Poetry Magazine
Piano
Her wattled fingers can’t
stroke the keys with much
grace or assurance anymore,
and the tempo is always
rubato, halting, but still
that sound—notes quivering
and clear in their singularity,
filing down the hallway—
aches with pure intention, the
melody somehow prettier
as a remnant than
whatever it used to be.
Source: Poetry (September 2011).
Biography
Dan Howell's collection of poems, Lost Country (University of Massachusetts Press, 1993), was short-listed for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Poetry. He teaches at the University of Kentucky.
Poem Categorization
SUBJECT Living, Growing Old, Time & Brevity, Arts & Sciences, Music
Poetic Terms Free Verse
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