The pianist walks onto the stage
Dressed in all his finery.
White shirt, with white bow tie,
Shoes glistening under the lights,
Black trousers and tailed jacket,
Hair neatly combed.
He approaches the piano,
A grand piano of course.
He sits down,
Gets comfortable,
And moves his hands to the keys.
He starts the first movement,
Starts by starting a watch,
And closing the lid.
His hands stay above the piano.
The first movement ends,
The watch is stopped,
The piano lid is raised,
The keys can be seen again.
The pianist settles once more,
Starts the watch,
Closes the piano,
Holds his hands aloft.
At the end of this movement
He stops the watch,
Raises the lid of the piano,
Adjusts his position,
Starts the watch
Closes the lid,
Holds his hands at his side,
Until the finale is reached.
Stops the watch,
Opens the lid,
Stands up and bows.
Bows to the thunderous applause
Of the assembled throng,
As once more the music ends,
And the four minutes thirty three seconds
Of John Cage's masterpiece comes to its end.
-
Author:
Goldfinch60 (Pseudonym) (
Offline) - Published: April 15th, 2017 01:25
- Comment from author about the poem: As silence seems to be a current theme I thought this may be appropriate. I have said a white bow tie as in polite society many years back a black bow tie was worn at men only occasions and white bow tie was worn if ladies were present.
- Category: Unclassified
- Views: 68
Offline)
Comments12
Someone was singing once, and a witty remark was given: 'Is there music to that'?! heehee. They were out-of-tune!
Sings: Silence is golden....... Then I ruined it, with a very loud CCOOOOEEEE! lol.
Very good.
Have you actually seen it performed.?
Great video.
A truly bizarre idea.
I have only seen it performed on television, very strange but somehow very compelling.
Thank you Garry.
The performance is everything. I understand there is a cd but if so i couldnt imagine why anyone might want that.
1 more comment
Erm, could anyone play it? Or do you have to open and close the piano lid at certain times?
Just great - a real tribute to this unheard piece.
The silent wind and string
to which I listened
in mute admiration
and eagerly awaited
the next performance
heard in silence.
Thank you Michael, much appreciated.
Thank you Diamond. Yes I agree ease only comes when you are relaxed and confident in what you are doing.
I can feel the roar!
Thank you WBL.
And in the naked light I saw
Ten~thousand people maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs
That voices never heard
And no one dared
Disturb THE SOUND OF SILENCE !
THANKS BROTHER I have seen (and heard) John Cages 4' 33' performed on stage ~ very moving. It always reminds me of Simon & Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence". Different people experience different emotions during a performance of 4' 33" but (in my experience) nobody is unmoved by it ! That is the power of structured SILENCE. the Scriptures say "There will be SILENCE in Heaven for 30 minutes". In these days of wall to wall MUSAK ~ I'm looking forward to that. I have attended Quaker Meetings and the periods of SILENCE are very precious. Thanks BRIAN
Thank you Brian, silence can be so special, in our Good Friday service people were remarking on how moving the periods of silence were during the service.
This is absolutely beautiful. Thank you for sharing this with us. I have no doubt that your reader base will continue to grow once people discover how amazing your poems are!
Thank you so much Lamar, you are most kind.
To be able to comment and rate this poem, you must be registered. Register here or if you are already registered, login here.