The Concert and Other Poems

By Anne Mikusinski

The Concert

At first, there’s
Silence.
Then
Loops and whorls of sound
Fill up the room
Rising and falling
Feeding on all emotion and
Anticipation
Of the waiting crowd
A flash and flood of light
Reveal
The players, at their places
Settled into 
Tonight’s temporary home
And for a while
No outside world exists
Just words
And music
And  connection
A fleeting smile
A brush of fingertips 
Or brief clasp of hands
There’s a middle, then an end
 A mournful keyboard fades
Into a last goodbye
A quick embrace exchanged
And then
Silence.

Night Lights

1.

I watch you reaching
For the elusive
And intangible 
Something
That fuels your work
And ignites your passion
And envy
How you 
Capture it briefly
Then let it go
To light sparks
Elsewhere..

2.

I am attracted
By your solace
And enamoured with
The passionate disarray of
Your presence
Alone
Even in a crowded room
Where you commune in private
With your demons.
Draw the curtain
Hold me close
And I will show you mine..

Chapter Two

In my next life
I will be 
Braver
But more
Careful
To cover my 
Sleeve worn heart
With an extra layer
Of camouflage.

In my next life
I will be 
Quiet
In the face of  onslaughts
Temperate
With words and 
More
Mindful of my actions.

In my next life
I will be more
Practical
Less prone to
Dreams
Less willing to 
Follow
A path of 
Promises
With no set destination.

The Muse’s Foil

Sometimes I bite
Drawing blood
A not so gentle nudge
As a reminder that I
Live
In a way that only
He can understand
Giving an acknowledgement
To 
This undefined
And quiet 
Partnership
Inanimate yet amorous
Creating
A maelstrom 
Of art and noise
As we move together
He pushes me away
Then raises me up
As sacrifice and tribute
An offering for the pulsing crowd
Then draws me back
To hold me close 
Continuing our private conversation
On mutual ownership
And occasional bliss.

Anne Mikusinski has always been in love with words, whether they have been read or spoken aloud. She has been writing poems and short stories since she was seven years old. Her influences range from Dylan Thomas and Sylvia Plath to David Byrne and Nick Cave. She hopes that someday, her writing will be as much of an influence on someone as these writers have been on her.