Photograph by Diana Young.
Rosin in the nose, horsehairs
eking out arabesques composed
in olden times longer ago
from this moment
until the day when
time runs out for us
When our time runs short
will the violinist
be able to play us out
with subtle style and grace
at the end
What if the horses
go extinct
before we do
How long before
the remaining horsehair
gets bowed to dust
Will somebody please
stockpile horsehair
Does it matter
whether it’s
mane or tail
Where to stock
all the hoarded
horsehair
skeins of it
When the horses are gone
millenary horse barns will be empty,
so you could stock the horsehair
there
So appropriate
What will they do in Kentucky
on the last Derby
Maybe they will gather
at the useless racetrack
Churchill Downs
doo-dah doo-dah
to hear the last violinist
bow out melancholy ballads
but especially the teary
Old Kentucky Home
for auld lang syne
Will the violinist bow with
only the finest BlueGrass
horsefarm horsehair
What else but the best
for the last bowing
when there will be
nothing more
to eke
.
studio arago 