Saturday 16 November 2013

Awakening of Cheerful Feelings

The ritual of stilted niceties
was rackety stiff

in an unpretentious
can’t-think-of-a-thing-to-say
sort of way:

the scrape of kitchen chairs
and squeaky water pipes
and the clink and jangle of spoons

against the clatters and clangs
that accompany the preparation of food –
rattled and ricocheted round me,

as I pictured a wild percussion section
crashing about, belligerently,
while the rest of the orchestra
looked on – gob-smacked . . .

waiting.  

Then:  she turned on the radio
and The Pastoral began to tumble,
in joyful backflip swaths,
across the snowy white moguls of the tablecloth . . .

and cheered the moment.
note: The Pastoral (also known as Symphony No. 6) was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1808.  Beethoven frequently wrote music in rural locations and the title of the first movement -"Awakening of Cheerful Feelings" - underscores the lighthearted quality of the piece.

photos:  The Kitchen – W. Bourke (pictures were taken in The Port Moody Station Museum in Port Moody's 1908 Canadian Pacific Railway Station) 

© 2013 Wendy Bourke

3 comments:

  1. Ha...I know those awkward moments...those stilted niceties...ugh! I am going to listen to that symphony today...I believe I have it on CD. Could definitely use some lightheartedness today! Lovely writing, made me smile too.

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  2. I like how you can turn all kinds of moments into poems. I like all the scrapes and clinks and jangles you have here - and how you contrast them with The Pastoral. (I'll need to try to listen to it myself!)

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  3. Thanks, Jennifer and Janet. Lovely to hear from you both.

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