Mark Arvid White

My Fingers On Your Piano, With None Of Your Abilities

Hands
poised.
Back straight.
My fingers
on your piano.
"On a Theme of Paganini."

Keys.
Notes.
I play.
My fingers
on your piano
with none of your abilities.

Plunk.
Chords.
Discord.
My fingers
on your piano.
Where oh where is Paganini?

Twang!
Clang!
Such pain.
My fingers
on your piano,
sledgehammers to stroke butterflies.

Hands
raised
at last!
My fingers
leave your piano.
Rachmaninoff stops his spinning.

Bio

Mark Arvid White lives in Alaska, and has been writing poetry and stories for a number of years. He is devoted to haiku and other Japanese forms, but also loves to write in many other non-Eastern styles, including Fibonacci. His publication credits include such print and online journals as Modern Haiku, Frogpond, Candelabrum, Permafrost, Japanophile, Wild Violet, AlienSkin, and many others in the U.S. and abroad. He has received best of issue awards, appeared in numerous anthologies including A Haiku Moment, and has won various contest awards. He is the founder of the Shin Tao Haiku Retreat, a gathering place for poets online in the virtual community of Second Life.

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