My daughter’s ‘cello teacher Barbara told me: “Time was, there were so many people in my life To telephone, to tell the small news to, One day wasn’t long enough to talk to all of them And practice too. You always have to practice.
“Years and friends slip off so quietly It hardly registers, until you want to share A wedding, what a grandchild said— forget The concert hall— and no one’s left to ring up Who wants to hear, not anyone at all.”
Myself, I’ve written so much I cannot remember What I said, or where the lines came from— Those eavesdropped conversations between strangers dropped from sight— That I believe life hangs upon forgetting.
—Laurance Wieder is collaborating with artist Andrea Korotky on Poem Site, a 24-month evolving installation of Songs in the Landscape.
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