Two Poems by Anne Mikusinski

The Concert

At first, there’s
Silence.
Then
Loops and whorls of sound
Fill up the room
Rising and falling
Feeding on all emotion and
Anticipation
Of the waiting crowd
A flash and flood of light
Reveal
The players, at their places
Settled into
Tonight’s temporary home
And for a while
No outside world exists
Just words
And music
And connection
A fleeting smile
A brush of fingertips
Or brief clasp of hands
There’s a middle, then an end
A mournful keyboard fades
Into a last goodbye
A quick embrace exchanged
And then
Silence.

Chapter Two

In my next life
I will be
Braver
But more
Careful
To cover my
Sleeve worn heart
With an extra layer
Of camouflage.

In my next life
I will be
Quiet
In the face of onslaughts
Temperate
With words and
More
Mindful of my actions.

In my next life
I will be more
Practical
Less prone to
Dreams
Less willing to
Follow
A path of
Promises
With no set destination.

Anne Mikusinski has been writing poems and short stories since the age of seven and probably making them up for a long time before that. Her influences range from Dylan Thomas and Sylvia Plath to David Byrne and Nick Cave. She hopes that someday, she will be as much of an influence for someone as these poets were for her.