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      October 2, 2024Mark FishbeinIn the Arboretum

      I tune my guitar
      to the bird who sings in almost E,
      the one with almost perfect pitch
      while counting 1 & 2, 3, 1 & 2, 3.
       
      This is where it spends the season,
      hidden in the leaves, I suppose
      having sex with he’s or she’s;
      I’m not sure of the species.
      It’s brown and lives in trees—
      here I play en plein air,
      not practice ornithology,
      and it’s summer everywhere.
       
      Other birds in reds, and yellows,
      go from A-flat and end in C,
      and often chirp a bit off key.
      Crows sound like there’s worms in their throats
      and the piccolo bird is a blabbermouth …
      but it is summer, after all!
      It’s just the usual rehearsing
      with flutes and brass of passing geese.
       
      Now the woodpecker rattles a drum roll
      and applause rises from a breeze
      which brings the forest to its feet.
       
      I play Romanza, by the infamous Anonymous,
      and the bird who sings in almost E
      repeats his phrases 1 & 2, 3;
      Duets for Guitar and Woodland Bird,
      Opus 8. All rights reserved.

      from #85 – Fall 2024

      Mark Fishbein

      “I am known as PoetwithGuitar (email, website, and social media). After playing at folk clubs in the ’60s and rock bands in Paris in the early ’70s, I joined the Musician Union Local 802 in New York and played in various venues for a year. My last gig was at a Hawaiian restaurant for several months in a small tiki band. Realizing my music talents were average at best, I took a business opportunity, and stuck to poetry. However, I later took up classical and Brazil style playing, and now perform in a ‘piano bar’ format at art and poetry events, private parties and banquets, and to accompany my readings. I have four published books. This poem is part of a collection of fifty poems, Poems in the Key of Music, currently seeking publication. I currently live in Chicago.”

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