a lifetime
of practicing
medicine
but now
this angel at the desk
will allow you
through the doors behind her
only
if you can demonstrate
that living has taught you
to play
without hesitation or mistake
the cello part
of the Death
and the Maiden quartet
but she offers you
neither a cello
nor a score
merely
the rebuke
that you’ve lacked the grace
to bring your own bow.
Jack Kristiansen exists in William Aarnes’ composition books, where is he working on a developing series that he thinks he will call Something Discovering Itself: Poems after Klee. Poems from this series have previously appeared in A Millennial Sampler of South Carolina Poetry, Tipton Poetry Journal, FIELD, and The Literary Review.
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