Arlene Corwin Poetry

 I Used To Be

(an ageing jazz pianist/singer observes)

I used to be interested in voicings:
No longer or, not anymore.
I’m much more primitive and noisy,
You can call me grandma Moses,
Taking handicaps, the wonders’ curiosities of change
And how they come with age.

I used to be concerned with beauty.
Now not much. See it as a vanity.
My touch at the piano of no interest and importance.

So much seems of little relevance:
Advancing years.
My ears, of course,
The ones alert to harmonies, to melodies;

It pleases me to feel
That they hear, can still
Put flesh on, broaden or elaborate,
But in a way that comes from the temperament, the talent mine.
I may not shine the way I used to,
But I’m getting used to that –
The ups and downs of being flat,
The unforeseeable I cannot formulate,
Anticipate in all its glory,
It becoming an old story.

There is no ‘used to be’
There’s only now and me
And doing things creatively.
That’s it!
I Used To Be.5.4.2019 Vaguely About Music II; Pure Nakedness II; Arlene Nover Corwin