Concerto
the hero clamors against the mob,
square peg defying round holes
discord out of one and many,
concord from many and one
a child noisily rebels and
the adults play along
one rejoices to lead the dance and
others, with delight, duly cavort
help me, and they succor
fight me, and they strive
join me, and they blend
admire me, and they do
temples, mansions, bridges
are thrown up, bar by bar
showing off, out of stillness
a complicated cadenza, soaring
in the middle, pensive meditation,
the solitary borne solemnly aloft
the journey like a romance, a war,
a life, tick-tock, strife to diapason
fugato to cadence and resolution,
helter-skelter presto until
all are spent, unanimous in
silence; only then. . . applause.
Robert Wexelblatt is professor of humanities at Boston University’s College of General Studies. He has published essays, stories, and poems in a wide variety of journals, two story collections, Life in the Temperate Zone and The Decline of OurNeighborhood, a book of essays, Professors at Play; his recent novel, Zublinka Among Women, won the Indie Book Awards First Prize for Fiction.
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