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Birthday

Richie Hofmann on

Published in Poem Of The Day

I look for words in the dark,
silently describing to myself
the particular conditions of the weather
on the morning I saw you most recently-
the wind, its patterned disarray-
my mind elsewhere, distracted, lyrical,
while the pianist plays an encore.
Mozart was born on this day
257 years ago. All day
I have been ungenerous, resentful,
impatient. In between
movements, no applause
but the old ladies cough loudly, violently.
We cannot last forever.
I loved music before I loved books.
I loved Mozart before I loved you.


About this poem
"I wrote this poem on Jan. 27, 2013, after attending a recital by Marc-Andre Hamelin in Baltimore. I think it was mostly a Rachmaninoff program. As I listened, I remembered it was Mozart's birthday, and I thought about scales of time-what is lasting, what love outlasts and what outlasts love."
-Richie Hofmann

About Richie Hofmann
Richie Hofmann is the author of "Second Empire," forthcoming from Alice James Books in November of 2015. He teaches at Emory University and splits his time between Atlanta and Chicago.

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The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, whose aim is to make poetry available to a wider audience. Email The Academy at poem-a-day[at]poets.org.


(c) 2015 Richie Hofmann. Originally published by the Academy of American Poets, www.poets.org. Distributed by King Features Syndicate




 


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