The Bassoon
He holds it at a slant, its long
firm body poised to do him wrong.
The fingering complexities,
the double reed, so many keys:
all make it hard to play the thing
at all, much less to make it sing.
Its voice is slightly nasal, low—
a shadow dipped in afterglow—
but penetrating its mystique
requires coaxing, work, technique.
He woos its veiled heart patiently
with warm breath and dexterity,
and frees from depths fraught as his own
a darkly sympathetic tone.
Jean L. Kreiling is the author of three collections of poems; a fourth, On the Cusp, will be published by Able Muse Press in late 2024. Her work has been awarded the Rhina Espaillat Poetry Prize, the Frost Farm Prize, the Kim Bridgford Memorial Sonnet Prize, the Able Muse Write Prize, and three New England Poetry Club prizes, among other honors; she lives on the coast of Massachusetts.
Grand Little Things 