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      October 2, 2024In the ArboretumMark Fishbein

      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 – Musicians

      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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