Every now and then I take out a book into which I have written over many years words, words, words… not all of the words became poetry, but on a day in June more than thirty years ago, I put down a page full of words in a certain order that expressed then what I still now want to happen to me… what I go out looking for when I get on my bicycle and head out with no specific destination in mind.

I AM AN ORCHESTRA

If I could be any instrument in the orchestra

I would choose the oboe for mellow, earthy tones

Or the clarinet to ride the roller coaster

Of notes and scales up and around

Or the flute like a tropical bird

Unless the trumpet called

Before or after playing down below

With cello or bass

Or violin crying and wailing

Or French horn singing

Through the thunder of timpani

Or tap dancing and marching

Through drums and marimba.

Making only one kind of music

May be enough for some people,

But not for me.

Let all the melodies of earth

And all the contramelodies, too,

Be played through me at least once.

I want to be everything.