VOICE LESSONS
At forty, I hired a vocal coach.
My husband had taken a new
friend—he swore it was platonic,
her name unimportant.
Upfront, she warned me
her rate for adults
was higher than for children—
a grown-up’s capacity for change
isn’t great, throat muscles
less pliable, even though
they usually want it more.
This isn’t a story
of overcoming
diaphragmatic disadvantages
of mature voices in training,
it’s about the cost.
I had one lesson wherein
she informed me
the price of admission
for her attention to my voice—
to get near the neighborhood
of up to par—
was double the original estimate.
It came with a guarantee
of no promises.
She wasn’t a magician, she said.
To make me passable
at karaoke bars
would be an extra ten a session.
It was cheap, actually, easy
quitting those lessons—
quitting my husband.
I never wanted to be a pop star,
only to feel a knowing in my bones
that someone could still hear me.
—from Prompt Poem of the Month
July 2024
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Prompt: Write a poem that features multiple unexpected turns, leaps, or voltas. Note from the series editor, Katie Dozier: “This classic Rattle poem sits us down with a frank voice that promises it has a story to share with us. By the second stanza, we have already leapt octaves. Jaymee’s poem inspires us not only to dare to take on new pursuits, but also to breathe more deeply—so that we may find the song of our own journey.”
