Sonata No. 1

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Claire Oplinger

 

Prelude

She tore it up

Starting with each corner

And working her way into the middle

Until a pile of snow and ink

Pooled on the carpet

She picked up the flute once more

Breathy and unfocused

But honest this time

No longer hiding

Behind inflexible symbols

And expecting to find

Answers

 

Waltz

Practicing Bizet and Brahms

Beethoven, Schubert, Saint-Saens

Strozzi, the Schumanns, and Bonds

Fill the room all evening long

Then there’s Cecile Chaminade

Crawford, Debussy, and Bon

Verdi and Rachmaninov

Fill the heart’s fractures with song

 

Rondo

All good gifts come from above

Wrapped in hidden calm from above.

 

Who can know this well of peace?

Of our understanding, it is far above.

 

Flowing like a mountain stream

Notes whose origins are in the clouds above.

 

Heavenly rhythms ride the spring winds

Circling down as they float from above.

 

They rest their infinite wings in mortal form

As the melodies spill down from above.

 

Polished silver, maple wood, furnished gold

Glimmering like mysteries from above.

 

In a midnight ballet, Light’s Song rushes out

To chase out the dark with a sword from above.

 

 

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Claire Oplinger, class of 2023, is a Flute Performance major at the Mason Gross School of the Arts. She grew up in Morristown, New Jersey, and plans to pursue a career in music librarianship after completing her studies at Rutgers. These poems were written during Susan Miller’s Spring 2022 Creative Writing—Poetry class. Professor Miller selected the pieces for inclusion in WHR.