Dear Reader,
Please. Find a few minutes to step into another world, created
just for you, dear Reader. If you begin to read a poem, but
it doesn't hold you, turn the page. Turn many pages. Even a
line or two can spark your imagination.
I was feeling down, and I approached a bookcase with trepidation.
Choosing a book of poems would offer only a temporary stay from
sadness or anxiety. But sometimes, temporary can be good enough.
I chose a small, illustrated anthology, Music while drowning:
German Expressionist Poems, edited by David Miller and Stephen
Watts. Max Beckmann's "Lido" is on the cover. Contrary
to the stereotype of German moodiness, the "drowning"
man, has a faint smile on his lips. Good for you, mister.
I leafed through the book and found a poem by Else Lasker-Schüler
translated by Ester Kinsky, "The Blue Piano." I don't
have a piano either, let alone a blue one, but the thought lifted
my spirits. It did not disappoint me, in fact, it did its work
for me.
The Blue Piano
I have a blue piano at home
yet I don't know a single tune.
It's been in the dark of the cellar door
since the world became so cruel.
It's played four-handed by the stars
- in her boat sang the woman-moon -
in the clanging now the rats cavort.
The keyboard lies in shattered shards…
I weep for her, dead and blue.
Dear angels, oh please open the door
- the bitter bread I chewed -
let me come to heaven alive, although
it's what you're forbidden to do.
A little confused? A little enchanted? Even for a few moments,
it's better than being sad.
