Poems About Music

Poems about Music Directions: Take notes on the following poems, using your intro to poetry packet. After we discuss the poems as a class, you will emulate one of the poets to develop your own poem related to music.

Siren Song BY MARGARET ATW OOD B. 1939 Margaret Atwood

This is the one song everyone would like to learn: the song that is irresistible: the song that forces men to leap overboard in squadrons even though they see the beached skulls the song nobody knows because anyone who has heard it is dead, and the others can't remember.

Shall I tell you the secret and if I do, will you get me out of this bird suit?

I don't enjoy it here squatting on this island looking picturesque and mythical with these two feathery maniacs, I don't enjoy singing this trio, fatal and valuable.

I will tell the secret to you, to you, only to you. Come closer. This song is a cry for help: Help me! Only you, only you can, you are unique at last. Alas it is a boring song but it works every time.

Source: Poetry (February 1974). Two Guitars BY VICTOR HERNÁNDEZ CRUZ B. 1949 Victor Hernandez Cruz Two guitars were left in a room all alone They sat on different corners of the parlor In this solitude they started talking to each other My strings are tight and full of tears The man who plays me has no heart I have seen it leave out of his mouth I have seen it melt out of his eyes It dives into the pores of the earth When they squeeze me tight I bring Down the angels who live off the chorus The trios singing loosen organs With melodious screwdrivers Sentiment comes off the hinges Because a song is a mountain put into Words and landscape is the feeling that Enters something so big in the harmony We are always in danger of blowing up With passion The other guitar: In 1944 New York When the Trio Los Panchos started With Mexican & Puerto Rican birds I am the one that one of them held Tight like a woman Their throats gardenia gardens An airport for dreams I've been in theaters and cabarets I played in an apartment on 102nd street After a baptism pregnant with women The men flirted and were offered Chicken soup Echoes came out of hallways as if from caves Someone is opening the door now The two guitars hushed and there was a Resonance in the air like what is left by The last chord of a bolero.

Source: Maraca: New and Selected Poems 1965-2000 (Coffee House Press, 2001) Canary BY RITA DOVE B. 1952 Rita Dove for Michael S. Harper

Billie Holiday’s burned voice had as many shadows as lights, a mournful candelabra against a sleek piano, the gardenia her signature under that ruined face.

(Now you’re cooking, drummer to bass, magic spoon, magic needle. Take all day if you have to with your mirror and your bracelet of song.)

Fact is, the invention of women under siege has been to sharpen love in the service of myth.

If you can’t be free, be a mystery.

Rita Dove, “Canary” from Grace Notes. Copyright © 1989 by Rita Dove. Reprinted with the permission of W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. This selection may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Source: Grace Notes (1989) Earbud BY BILL HOLM Bill Holm Earbud—a tiny marble sheathed in foam to wear like an interior earring so you can enjoy private noises wherever you go, protected from any sudden silence. Only check your batteries, then copy a thousand secret songs and stories on the tiny pod you carry in your pocket. You are safe now from other noises made by other people, other machines, by chance, noises you have not chosen as your own. To get your attention, I touch your arm to show you the tornado or the polar bear. Sometimes I catch you humming or talking to the air as if to a shrunken lover waiting in your ear.

Poem copyright ©2008 by Bill Holm, whose most recent book of poems is "Playing the Black Piano," Milkweed Editions, 2004. Poem reprinted by permission of Bill Holm. This is the one _____ everyone would like to ______: the ______that is ______: the ______that ______to ______in ______even though ______the ______nobody ______because anyone who has ______it is ____, and the others can't ______.

Shall I ______and if I do, will you ______?

I don't ______on this ______ing ______and ______with these ______y ______, I don't ______ing this ______, ______and ______.

I will ______the _____ to you, to you, only to you. ______. This ______is a _____ for ______: ______! Only ______, only ______, you are ______

______. Alas it is a ______but it ______. ______’s ______had as many ______s as ______s, a ______against a ______, the ______her ______under that ______.

(Now you’re _____ing, ______to ______, ______, ______. Take ______if you have to with your ______and your ______of ______.)

Fact is, the ______of ______has been to ______in the ______of ______.

If you can’t be _____, be a ______. ______—a ______in ______to wear like ______so you can ______wherever you go, ______from any ______. Only ______, then ______a thousand ______and ______on the ______you carry in your ______. You are ______now from other ______by other ______, other ______, by ______, ______you have not ______. To get your attention, I ______to show you the ______or the ______. Sometimes I ______you ______ing or ____ing to the ______as if to a ______waiting in your ______.