Fall 2014, Volume 17

Poetry by Trenton Pollard

Satie Then Schubert

"Allegro con fuoco ma non troppo"
                 —Note for 3rd movement, Schubert's Fantasie in C major

He begins to play, slowly
at first, “Gymnopédies,”
naked feet dancing and
swinging soft progressions from
the baby grand’s lacquered throat.
A history of cool seductions

drift from him like blue incense.
Once warmed up he closes his
eyes and curves his back toward
the tough keys, pounds clarity from the
unresolved slag; and so
professes a belief in form.

The sonata’s sharp turn surprises,
(I thought I knew this song), and the
chord-clouds bruise my will, shock
it into submission. A new
sforzando begins, says
 “Happily with fire, but not too fast.”

 

 

 

BIO: Trenton Pollard is an MFA candidate at North Carolina State University and a graduate of Bennington College. Originally from Michigan, he has worked as a welder, graphic designer, massage therapist, and political organizer. His poems have been published or are forthcoming in The Santa Clara Review, The Cossack Review, and Codex Journal.