Selmer
It wasn't the music that drew him,
not at first, but the shape it made
on a stand and the way it took
the light, staring back at him
from the pawnshop window.
And so he decided then and there
he'd learn to play it, taking
for granted his gift and the right
he'd have to cradle it
once he had mastered the keys.
Those first uncertain months
it honked and squawked
like a goose, its strangled plea
the voice of a victim until at length
he tamed and soothed it.
Breathing his warmth
and a whisper into the silent
metal, its song became his story,
recognisable and true
beyond its blank harmonics.
Night after night in clubs,
his eyes closed, and swaying
gently, he lifted his horn
like a golden orchid
above the smoke and shadows.
David Cooke won a Gregory Award in 1977, since when his poems and reviews have appeared in Agenda, Ambit, The Cortland Review, The Interpreter’s House, The Irish Times, The London Magazine, Magma, The Manhattan Review, The Morning Star, The North, Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry Salzburg Review and Stand. He has also published seven collections, the latest of which is Staring at a Hoopoe (Dempsey and Windle 2020). He is the founder and editor of the online poetry journal The High Window.
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