Wednesday Poems
Today’s poem comes from my book, Suddenly, So Much (Exile Editions);
the accompanying image is my painting, Watering Can (mixed media; sold).
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Appalachian Spring (Aaron Copland, 1944)
Because the wars are not over yet, and yet these notes unfold leaf
and bud in the sun because this is what comes of bowing strings and breathing
into reeds and what breaks the sky is dawn not bombs because
a ballet begins with a long sliver of sound the piano
laughs, woodwinds scamper in the grass with violins my fingers sprout green shoots
and my shuttered heart opens
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Copland’s Appalachian Spring is one of my favourite
pieces of music, and I play it often at this time of year.
Originally composed to accompany the ballet
choreographed by Martha Graham, Copland later
arranged it as an orchestral suite. Created near the end
of WW II, the ballet celebrates the marriage of a young
frontier couple looking ahead to a promising future.