Forte Piano Poems | Examples


List of Member Poems

Nachtmusik

I keep a notebook on the nightstand,
pencil at hand – life-rafts for thoughts.

A flock of crows
takeoff at once, their clatter is musical,
it is an hour-long symphony
played in a single moment.

My Scots grandmother
would sing to me in her Highland tongue
sounds so beautiful that my brain
would stop deciphering or even thinking.
I recall now those chanting-chimes.

Mozart must have leapt from his bed often.
I wonder did he stumble around lighting candles,
cursing the dark until he found his keyboard?
Did he lay his sleepy forehead on that forte-piano
willing himself to recall the bitsy songs
of Pipistrelle bats?

My head swings from the pillow.
If I could only reach that pencil,
but it has moved-on,
to a place where Celtic grannies,
and jet-black crows wait
to enter some other dream.

Nacht Music

My closed eyes have crashed
against an image;
I am a boat moored to a storm.
I keep a notebook on the nightstand,
pencil at hand – life-rafts for thoughts.

A flock of crows
take off at once – they clatter – it’s musical,
it is an hour-long symphony
played in a single moment,
you hear it all but can’t separate the wing-beats.	

My Scots grandmother (a natural born Celt),
would talk to me in her Highland tongue;
sounds so beautiful that my brain
would stop deciphering or even thinking.
I can’t now remember her wry wisdom,
not a thing, 
I just recall the chanting-chimes.

Mozart must have leapt from his bed often.
I wonder did he stumble around lighting candles,
cursing the dark until he found his keyboard?
Did he lay his sleepy forehead on that forte-piano
willing himself to recall the bitsy songs
of Pipistrelle bats?

My head swings from the pillow.
If I could only reach that pencil,
but it has moved-on,
to a place where Gaelic grannies,
and jet-black crows wait
to enter some other dream.

Nacht Musik

My closed eyes have crashed
against an image;
I am a boat moored to a storm.
I keep a notebook on the nightstand,
pencil at hand – life-rafts for thoughts.

A flock of crows
all take off at once – they clatter – it’s musical;
1t’s an hour-long symphony
played in a single moment,
you hear it all but can’t separate the wing-beats.	

My Scots grandmother (a natural born Celt),
would talk to me in her Highland tongue;
sounds so beautiful that my brain
would stop deciphering or even thinking.
I can’t now remember her wry wisdom,
not a thing, 
I just recall the chanting-chimes.

Mozart must have leapt from his bed often.
I wonder did he stumble around lighting candles,
cursing the dark until he found his keyboard?
Did he lay his sleepy forehead on that forte-piano
willing himself to recall the bitsy songs
of Pipistrelle bats?

My head swings from the pillow.
If I could only reach that pencil,
but it has moved-on,
to a place where Gaelic grannies,
and jet-black crows wait
to enter some other dream.


Music

Music, music, it’s in the air,
Here is a list of what I hear:

A B C D E F G
(1 e & a) (1 2 3)

Rhythm, beat, timing, and tempo,
Fermata, rest, and accelerando,

Forte, piano, half, and whole,
Quarter, dotted, and staccato,

Sharp, flat, and natural, too,
4/4, 3/4, 6/8, and 2/2,

Measure, scale, and arpeggio,
Chord, seventh, and legato,

Major, minor, and decrescendo,
Crescendo, seventh, and ritardando,

Staff, spaces, lines, and strings,
Sixteenth, in-tune, and fingering,

Woodwind, brass, position, and trill,
Treble, bass, mellow, and shrill,

Percussion, composer, style, and key,
Quickly, lively, somber, and freely,

Triplet, tone, tied, and up-beat,
Pick-up, slur, eight, and down-beat.

You may hear music here and there,
But I hear music everywhere.

Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.

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