Cleopatra had no radio she had
To summon slaves with lyres horns
I’m such a dunce in music I don’t
Know if they had harmonies we
Know the Greeks had choruses
Pure speculation for how they sang
In Dave’s my local supermarket
They play a lot from my generation
Blueberry Hill Elvis others I recognize
But don’t know by name they
Don’t let staff use earbuds on duty
Which I appreciate when they cashier
It’s hard enough to get them to
Pay attention to their work they
Seem subsumed in the business
Of chewing gum or carrying on
With their colleague cashiers as
If they could tally our selections
In their sleep or by feel of the
Product for those without codes
Perhaps some day we’ll be able
To grow fruit vegetables displaying
Their consumer product codes
Right on their skin so much like
Every other kind of work done
Automatically even before machines
Take over the task everything even
Diamond cutting circumcision as
In an old SNL routine except for
Musicians who from the looks
On their faces must be involved
A friend of mine who played bass
Often at Polish wedding receptions
Confessed to having fun with words
Of old polkas as they played this
Is my girl friend her name is Charlotte
Everyone knows that she is a harlot
Ooo la dee la dee ooo la de la de
Ooo la de la de aay such that between
The drinks that reduced their pay
The thrill of old ladies in Cuban
Heels stomping all get out he wasn’t
Quite sure what they played but
They had a good time no I’m
Trying to talk about serious music
I can’t think monastic Gregorian
Chanters could have anything
In their heads but the purity of
Their hymns they sound infused
With the eternity of which they sang
Captured conveyed to mortals in
The confines of chapels granted
Few emerged from those sessions
Whistling the tones of a particularly
Inspiring nunc dimittis there’s
A true feel of transport in great
Music sounding to the artist
Within each of us as if we
Were tuned to resonate in higher
Purpose then what of the dissonant
Screeching that backgrounds our
Age I think of Ecclesiastes
Wonder if there is a music for
Every purpose under heaven
Then these are dire times indeed
c. J.S.Manista, 2015
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