soli deo Gloria
\n<\/em>and snow fell into the glassy river.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Now, the sun is hot
\nand I can\u2019t seem to forget the white lights
\nof the operating room, the hum
\nof the cautery tool, smoke rising
\nfrom burning skin.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Something is dying\u2014
\na bloated deer, maybe, lying on the path
\nby the black river;
\nturkey vultures are circling overhead
\nand later, when I practice a slow sonata,
\nI think of their ragged wings.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I could tell you
\nthis is about rebirth, that my fingers
\nstill clumsy with the suture knots
\nshake a little less each time,
\nthat they are learning to press on bodies
\nand see the organs inside.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But this is how a musician dies:
\nslowly, as the days sweep by
\nand fingers quietly forget the maps
\nthey once knew, and come up flat
\nenough times for me to say
\noh, my heart
\n<\/em>I think something inside me
\n<\/em>is leaving.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alyse Carlson I return to the prairie where my alma mater sits, to remember the clouds of rosin rising from my strings as the choir sang behind me soli deo Gloria and snow fell into the glassy river. Now, the sun is hot and I can\u2019t seem to forget the white lights of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9625,"template":"","categories":[9,49,119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9623","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aquifer","category-literary-features","category-poetry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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