Random Poetry

Here’s what it took:

1. A chance encounter with a dog

2, A writing workshop

3. New York City 

    at approximately 98 degrees F

THE BULLDOG AT THE 

COFFEE SHOP

The big brown bulldog sat on the floor

The big brown bulldog was dreaming.

He lay down on the floor,

He could take it no more,

'T was so hot, and the asphalt was steaming.

His owner had gone for iced coffee to buy,

Had left bulldog outside on the floor to lie,

Tied his leash to the door,

“Oh, he is such a bore,” 

Bulldog yawned, staring into the store.

“I’d like iced coffee, too,” 

said the dog to the shoe

That was passing him by 

at that moment.

It was owned by a man

Who just put his hand

On the door, 

to go into the store, 

too.

The door opened wide, 

and the dog took a stride

Towards the counter, 

where people were standing.

At the menu he looked -

While his head he shook

At the prices, 

his knees started bending.

As he waited in line for a while, 

he was fine,

But then, the line started to move.

The poor dog on the floor

Was still tied to the door,

Could not reach the iced coffee 

he’d come for.

Brain-Freeze

With temperatures reaching 100 this week, it might have been a brain melt, but the effects are the same: staring at the blank page, or the computer screen, unable to remember what fit together seamlessly just half an hour ago when I imagined myself turning to the desk, ready to finalize the text I was planning to present at writing class on Wednesday. 

I had put it off until the long weekend when I would have plenty of time. Now I was drawing a complete blank, my thoughts trailing off to the deadline rather than staying on topic, imagining the fooI I would inevitably make of myself with nothing to read.

Sunday morning I gave up, and succumbed to the temptation to go to the city and play some more on the street pianos. My wonderful piano at home has also done the trick on occasion, but getting away is always a good idea, and Sunday and Monday were the last two days of "Play me, I'm Yours" .

All four pianos at Lincoln Center have been painted by the granddaughter of Henri Matisse - the photo shows the one at Damrosch Park.

The challenges of a colored keyboard....

Bike Break

One piano, three generations

If you want to catch the live spirit of the project, click on the link to watch the video made by Tom Cathey http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5vxWBwbHbI. By the way, the piece is Schumann’s Arabesque op. 18 - not “Kinderszenen” - but “From Foreign Lands and People” sounds very similar, and they got the composer right.

It wasn’t hard to finish my writing after the trip. If you’re a blocked writer, maybe you should take up playing the piano...