Lesson

what can you count on now?

the simplicity of an

ache

stomach, tooth,

head

does not matter

and the simplicity too

of what it takes

to be in

the dream of

something

else

a precision

a force beyond just

taking it in

here's music and piano-keys,

the playing field, here's

the reason

a lesson in

what it is, what it isn't

a memory

made of

delicate bones

and building blocks

painted in

emerald enamel

painted in chalkboard fever

the 1916 sketchiness

the grim joy

of a moment

taken apart

never reassembled

a memory

you have of a flat field

a misplaced emotion

but that's what makes

life

worth it

this semblence of order

that scatters

once it

finds itself

("The Piano Lesson," Henri Matisse, oil on canvas, 1916)