July brought smoke, brought mirrors, twisted thumbs,
and rippled image of citied trees. Its stilted edges blur
under heated air, under heated bodies which roll, legs
hooked, neck clenched, teeth on salted slickened skin.
Highrises wink in sunlit fog, they wink through barred
windows and weighted locks of incest and double-story
sentiment where inside, a family sits at tall kitchen table,
waiting for oven-roasted chicken and arsenic-laced soup.
Jennifer van Alstyne is editor-in-chief of The Monmouth Review. She is currently working on a collection of poetry based on the life and music of 20th century composer, Glenn Gould.
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The Canadian pianist Glenn Gould would hardly of referred to himself as a composer. He wrote one fugue for four voices and a handful of poor piano pieces at best. As a Bach interpreter, he has never been bettered in my opinion. He brought life to baroque and earlier music that didn’t exist prior to him. His interpretation of such composers as Scriabin and Schoenberg were also notable. And of course he was a fantastic character, R.I.P. I would love to see you work.
Thanks for your comment Michael. Glenn Gould is most well known as a virtuoso, but he did refer to himself as a composer, particularly since he has referenced his radio projects such as The Idea of North as compositions. I agree that discounting these, his musical contributions have mostly been interpretations. I’d love to show you my work once it is completed.
If you could email me your work when it is finished I’d be thrilled. glennevanspoetry@gmail.com
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