Tuesday Poem

Maureen Plays Bach

—on Bach’s birthday, 1st day of spring

Outside, above tulips, sea lavender –
hummingbirds, wingbeats
swift and sweet as a trill.

In here – Bach wants Maureen’s fingers
to move just so on a quick trip
from earth to heaven.
She cannot think them
where to go,

so he waves his baton
from the swelling
at the top of the spine
where Will shows Desire
how to enter the World.

It’s where we store the learned,
the practiced virtues –
riding a bicycle,
a chip shot,

the feel of a pinch of salt.

by Nils Peterson