Bouzouki
Skirl
of pipes,
Chatter
of mandolin,
Curlicue
of istampitta and geometry of Bach,
Wail
of the nyckelharpa and knotwork of
the sean nos,
Smoke
of the rebeticos in the hash bars of
Smyrna and Athens.
It’s
all there:
Flaked
Etruscan frescoes, shouting horsemen under Central Asian skies, tea-houses on
the Silk Road; Mughal courts and Katak sacred
dancers, poets in perfumed Iberian gardens; Turkish asiks riding muddy Anatolian streets, singers lifting makams in Damascus studios; Berbers
chanting verses at star-lit oases; black-porter poets puffing cigarettes in the
back parlors of Gaeltacht pubs;
From
crossroads dances, RTE broadcast studios,
Bronx tenements, Chicago kitchens,
To a river landing on
the Missouri:
It’s all there.
For Roger Landes, in friendship. CJS
8/21/01.
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