JOHNMICHAEL SIMON POETRY

Some orchestras just bash away at it

in a tempo more suited to a

beer bottle filling machine

or a dishwasher

 

They have no finesse

no tension-filled pauses

no notes stretched to limits

waiting breathlessly for a dramatic

change of pace some thrilling

collaboration of conductor and players

that causes your blood to throb

with excitement faster

faster until the brilliant heart-pounding

finale

 

No.  With these orchestras that sound like

clanking machinery you can sense

the impatience of the bored

fiddlers and horn blowers

to get somehow or other

to the end we all expect anyway

 

Pack up and go home to their

bratwurst and cabbage

read their newspapers ears deaf

to their nagging wives

 

Just tired old orchestral players

going through the motions

 

Does that remind you of something Fritz?