Chamber Music

There was a time once,
when we talked
effortlessly
with voices

that I thought went together
in custom fit
and natural grace
like a sonata for oboe and bassoon.

I often told my daughter,
a bassoonist, that she played
the only instrument
where it was possible

to make music and look beautiful
at the same time,
but I was wrong,
for lately I have been studying

the faces of violinists
floating just upstream
of their strings
and watching their fingers

moving like starfish
across the neck
in slow, fluid movements
graceful, effortless

and quietly soft and gentle
as a conversation
between father and daughter.

Doug Tanoury has been writing poetry all of his adult life, and has been published in print and online for many years now. Areas of interest for him are ekphrasis work and the specia; connection between poetry and place. He has published over 20 chapbooks, including: Produce Poems, St. Marys Art Cloister and Tolstoy's Ghost.