MIT Poetry

Concerto for Erhu and Subway

Tunney Lee

Erhu. A two-stringed, vertical fiddle introduced into China
from Mongolia in the Song dynasty, 960-1279.

on the uptown platform at Times Square
black brown pale tall short fat skinny people
swaddled in wool leather fur fleece    jackets
hoods hats balaclavas gloves mittens   filling
all       the       bits       of       left-over        space

on the downtown platform a train screeches to a halt
graffiti and scratchiti is forbidden violators subject to fine and imprisonment
indecipherable language gurgles from the loudspeakers
is it baluchistani chechen cham chamorro chimbu, chukchi or maybe esperanto
delayb mmnnnot stoppming at ppenmstaysnnnn bewarnm pinkpomkets

creating a sense of crisis      nature and location unspecified
jack-hammers join in adding an emphatic stop and go beat

the Chinese man
age indeterminate
jet black hair brush cut
wearing a navy blue Fila sweater
brown corduroy pants
down jacket on a crate
elevated
from the grit
ground into grime

he
sits
reed
straight
aloof
on his folding stool
his left hand
holds
the erhu
by
its
long
slender
sandal
wood
neck

curved
   elegantly
       at
          the top
     punctuated by
paired pegs

sitting on his left thigh
the ebony base
black and polished
covered with python skin
black and white pattern
bold strokes of calligraphy

fingers
flit
like
cicadas
over
the strings
                         his right hand sweeps the bow           its two strings of horse hair
remembering the captive barbarians mourning for their homeland

the uptown train thunders in  brakes squealing  adding to
garble         jack-hammer          cell-phones             chatter

eyes closed  he persists
with fingers and bow
swaying to an inner voice

the plaintive wail     sad   mysterious          almost human
rises                                dips
            rises                                 dips
                       weaving                                  through the din
a temporary structuring of the cacophony

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