Sunday, December 02, 2012

"Instrument of Choice" by Robert Phillips

























She was a girl
no one ever chose
for teams or clubs,
dances or dates,

so she chose the instrument 
no one else wanted:
the tuba. Big as herself, 
heavy as her heart, 

its golden tubes
and coils encircled her
like a lover's embrace.
Its body pressed on hers.

Into its mouthpiece she blew
life, its deep-throated
oompahs, oompahs sounding,
almost, like mating cries. 

From Good Poems by Garrison Keillor 2002
(King 2341 Tuba pictured above. )

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