To eighty-eight keys, I was first introduced
With eighty-eight keys, my ears were seduced
But greetings started with just eight
The other eighty had to wait
Some years passed, I got to know better
The keys that were notes and their letters
Do to Sol is C, D, E, F, G
La, Ti is A, B, then back to C
Simple Do Re Mi's turned to complex Do Mi Sol's
Intervals became larger though my hands are small
Frustration came from a piece for recital
Proper skill and technique became so vital
To eighty-eight keys, I was first introduced
With eighty-eight keys, my ears were seduced
The other eighty which then had to wait
Now take part in the music that I create
Sex might be great, when you're eighty-eight, but hell...I won't participate
Play with new words like a french kiss with your tongue.
Eighty-eight is the number of keys in a standard piano.
In every key is a different sound that races.
Get high with God as you pluck each key.
Heavens above will rejoice when you sing
with your notes of praises.
Three times the number of alphabets
plus your ten fingers make up the eighty-eight.
Your soul soars when you make others smile
with pieces of eighty-eight.
Eighty-eight is still the number to remember
If you want to sing and dance forever.
Great songs and masterpieces will always survive
Hit any note and spirits will come alive.
Thank God for the melodies that made the music
of your life.
Eighty-eight keys of ivory
Create the story of history
From requiems and waltzes
To rhythm and blues,
From dirges and ballads
To pop and rock,
How amazing! What stories are told
By gifted musicians and eighty-eight keys.
In our music room
Eighty-eight keys are played
When I am happy
When I am sad
When I am melancholy
When I am bored
When the holidays approach
And on days that are lonely.
Listen closely to the music
And imagine the story
Unraveling through the notes
Light and lively, slow and trudging
Creating a visual of the colors and climate,
Thoughts and feelings,
Life and loss of the musician
And her eighty-eight keys.
2022 Marathon Mile 5 Poetry Contest
Mark Toney
June 15, 2022
Rosy cheeks, keen mind was fairly dancing with terrific ideas and hope
I had a sense about her from the instant we met, a kindred soul.
Eighty-eight years young. She had a soulful and amazing ability to cope.
We were the best of friends, she made me feel encouraged and whole.
Eighty-eight pounds of plastic
Have been found inside a whale.
That’s quite a lot despite the fact
Of its enormous scale.
It’s not enough to worry over
Straws we use in drinks,
For what about the other stuff
That’s ocean-tossed and sinks?
Environmental warnings
Do not resonate with most.
For future generations, then,
Some creatures will be toast.
To think of whales’ extinction
Should make all our spirits sag
But especially if caused by
Each discarded plastic bag.
Grandma At Eighty Eight
Not too long ago you were a golfer and high score bowler
Hair always fixed looking fifty not much older
Unique deluxe card games or attending a bingo hall
Playing scrabble with your daughter’s and winning all
You also can sew, knit, cook and with anyone converse
There’s really nothing you can’t do well in the universe
Grandma you are a saint through and through
Raising seven children would turn me into a shrew
You have more tolerance and patience than I do
Doing things I would never even think to
Driving to LA in a van with relatives no room to breathe
Stuck in four lane traffic with everyone having to pee
Driving twelve hours with offspring in the summer heat
Then dancing all night at a wedding is an amazing feat
I need to take five days to recharge my batteries alone
You enjoy people coming and going in your home
A people person always, in your home, or in a car
Listening and allowing others to be who they are
Others know they can share their feelings of shame
Because you let them without judgment or blame
Your heart, spirit, and body are in great shape
I hope to be more like you at age eighty eight