Hey Fella Would You Mind Holding This Piano a Moment
For Reg & Susie
As you are walking
down the street
this guy asks you
to hold his violin.
It’s a Stradivarius.
Soon as it falls
into your hands
you start playing like crazy.
The violin
almost plays itself.
Your powerful hands
nearly break the instrument
but the music is gentle and sweet.
You sweep your long artistic hair
out of your face.
Everybody
in the room,
in the bull ring, in the
audience, in the Coliseum
starts clapping
and shouting “Encore & Wow.”
Everybody whoever
thot you were
dumb & untalented
goes apeshit
over your hidden genius.
“Gee, I never knew you
played,” says your astonished high school
principal.
Notes:
This poem was previously published in Hey Fella Would You Mind Holding This Piano a Moment (Ithaca House, 1974) and is reprinted here by permission of William J. Harris. It is part of the portfolio “I Hope You Like Being Here with Me: The Work of William J. Harris,” curated by Howard Rambsy II.
Source: Poetry (February 2023)