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@ 27.055 MHz: Ad Astra; At College, The Sophomore Bassoonist Practices An Important Part
For the second movement of Chopin's Second Piano Concerto: he
shall be the concert's principle bassoonist, and therefore he
practices---daily and nightly. The exquisite beauties of his
musical skill, and of his body, are exceeded only by the similar
beauty of his soul---always in expression to, and before, you.
Discouragements---doubters'; old prudes'; fanatical haters'---do not
daunt him at all. Here, for your visual and auditory pleasures: in
your presence he practices; shoeless and shirtless; a thick
profusion of soft curls cascades over his supple shoulders. The
frayed, tattered cuffs of his faded, sky-blue cargo pants, cannot
entirely conceal the semisheer, fawn-gray socks that sheathe his
slender and playfully agile feet. Think of the gentleness, the
smooth glide, of his moistened lips, and the teasing flutter of that
adroit tongue, and the kind of seemingly acrobatic fingering he
deploys upon the shaftlike bassoon; later, but also here, devoted
(without inhibition) to your romantic and erotic pleasures. Some
time ago, he taught you (with conspiratorial giggles; anticipating what
thugs and clodhoppers might have to say in reactionary custom)
that his instrument's name, in Spanish, is fagotto; and, in German,
fagott.
Starward
A little Chopin and the
A little Chopin and the floodgates open, beauty tumbles out and the haters are aghast. And with courtly music swirling between the lines, you've got an explosion of sensory delights going on here.
The magic of this little frolic is the attitude: with so much scorching hate and judgement being hurled his way, the bassoonist doesn't wither or even flinch, in fact, he defuses it with humor and aplomb:
"with conspiratorial giggles; anticipating what
thugs and clodhoppers might have to say in reactionary custom"
It's all fun, even a few double entendres, a wink here, a nod there and those socks that don't quit . . .
But the real triumph is that it meets the Ad Astra goal of acceptance and inclusion, and that can make all the difference in a person's life.
"Here, for your visual and auditory pleasures" is another essential moment in your epic.
I am gratefully overwhelmed
I am gratefully overwhelmed by this comment. I appreciate your perspective on the poem, but those words "the Ad Asrra goal of acceptance and inclusion" mean more to me than you might have guessed. In stating those words, on a poem like this one, you have created a kind of time warp in which those words go back to my awkward adolescent self, to whisper that acceptance and inclusion are possible to achieve, for me (and my young self) acceptance and inclusion in these poems metaphysically; and, hopefully for some who might read them, the hope of acceptance and inclusion still thriving. I am sorry---my words are kind of gushing forth because I am so overwhelmed by this . . . thank you, so very, very much; and thank you, by proxy, in every language I have never learned which, even then, would not be enough to say thank you.
Enjoy effulgent days, and exquisite nights,
unto the exultations of Heaven.
Starward
Thank you for your sincere
Thank you for your sincere and beautifully expressed words of appreciation. Gratitude is something in short supply in this world, and we can never express it enough. When it comes to commenting on your work, the pleasure is mine, believe me.