Violin Plays

She holds on tight to bow and strings, yet,
it is her body, curving and rounding,
on inner caverns that gives music
its beginnings:  Soaked in water for ease

in bending, the oak swerves and slips through 
shadows that dance between light and dark.
This maneuvering churns sound, pushes
and strains it through the instrument’s S-

shaped openings, so the filtering 
leaves the dull and baser notes behind
with their thwarted efforts to break free.
There they linger and die leaving their remains

to stain instrument walls and floors with rusty 
water marks while the sublime breaks free,
hovers, and rises.  It is song that rivals
the sirens’ call, a summoning 

that draws all within hearing 
to willingly relinquish the freedom 
of windswept decks on sailing ships,
vessels banking seamless horizons

where water takes a deep breath and
lifts its swollen breast to meet the sky.

Adele Steiner Brown, professor, poet, and writer received her BA and MFA from the University of Maryland. She lives in Silver Spring, MD, and teaches at Montgomery College and UMGC. Her poetry won awards and has been published in The Maryland Poetry Review, Gargoyle, So To Speak, Smartish Pace, and The Northern Virginia Review. She published two full- length books of poetry, Freshwater Pearls and The Moon Lighting and a writing workshop book, Look Ma,,“Hands” on Poetry.

Featured image “Violin (139307167)” photographed by Michael Tighe to be licensed via creative commons 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.