April 17, 2020

Guitar Lesson

By Tony Brown

A hard lesson
from my guitar tonight:

my left hand’s become
a bald-faced lie

at which my
right hand cringes,

but it does not demand
the truth.

A body divided against itself
cannot sing.

I grind my teeth
and pick up the guitar again,

ask it at last to tell me
anything about what’s true?

I manage a chord, a small
simple chord, struck weakly but precisely;

start to recall, now,
what I know will actually heal

a damaged body; the willingness
to go through pain on the way

to the body’s rightful music.
I try again. I listen,

correct myself,
grind, chase the truth.

About Tony Brown

A poet with a history in slam, lots of publications; my personal poetry and a little bit of daily life and opinions. Read the page called "About..." for the details. View all posts by Tony Brown

This entry was posted on Friday, April 17th, 2020 at 10:27 pm and tagged with meditations, music, poems, poetry and posted in poetry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

3 responses to “Guitar Lesson”

drdeacondog
April 19th, 2020 at 10:18 am

What a great poem! Full of beauty and pain. My “left hand a bald-faced lie.” Wow! My guitar-playing self gets that. Thank you for this piece.

Reply
- Tony Brown
  April 19th, 2020 at 10:22 am
  
  Thank you. I have fairly severe neuropathy from diabetes in that hand. As I’m also someone who plays in a band, this plays hell with my necessary practice schedule. It ain’t fun.
  
  Reply
  - drdeacondog
    April 19th, 2020 at 10:23 am
    
    I am sorry for your struggle. Thank you for writing about it through a really excellent poem. Many blessings as you continue to make music.