Sunday, April 1, marked the start of National Poetry Month, an annual celebration the Academy of American Poets first introduced in 1996, according to poets.org. To commemorate National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world, the King Street Chronicle will publish one poem every school day throughout April.
Courtesy of Peter Harkins.
Silence
Chair of the Upper School English Department Dr. William Mottolese
A Homophonic Response to Osip Mandelstam
On a mandolin he plays music
about the mystery of crows
and the monotony of his life,
quiet like a borough in the Pyrenees.
Choices determine modulation –
he, encountering silence, a snatched egg in his palm.
What territories near sound’s landscapes
has he traversed with his ears, head pitched
so slightly to the night.
Now when I approach him, cautiously,
and try to weigh his silence with him,
he, awake to mystery becoming,
he, tapping, tapping with his foot,
must hear some distant shouting in an alley
or a beetle devour a pear leaf.
– Mae Harkins, Staff Writer