Electric

electric piano
the body electric

electric lights
in a composer’s night
with the shadows
of his mind prevail?

the candles of the past
now all spent
cast their shadows
on the page
on your score
each note head
each gesture
grows darker
more rhythmically dense
the notes squeezed together

this electric personality
knows no artistic boundaries
there are no taboos:
make the strings shriek
make the singers howl
break the spirit of the winds

but the listener’s attention
feels electrifying
when they applaud
even when they laugh
or riot in their seats

be true to yourself
cast off the critics
cast off the shadows
of self doubt
that mock and motivate you
and you alone will create
a fortress of sound
a body of work that
lives and charges
the air it lives in

it isolates you

but perhaps such a lonely life
is a little too power hungry
for any one to handle
alone