Poetry Explorer

Search Classic and Contemporary Poetry

Search Results

Back to search

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Searching...
Subject: PIANOS
Matches Found: 133

UPDATE command denied to user 'poetryex_users'@'localhost' for table `poetryex_poems`.`subcnt` A PRELUDE, by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Little conjurer of keys
Last Line: Little conjurer of keys.
Subject(s): Life; Music & Musicians; Musical Instruments; Pianos; Singing & Singers; Soul; Songs


ACCIDENTALS, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Driving thirteenth street, I have the sense
Last Line: Has gone, and all my pots are full of tears
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


ADAGIO, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: The swing in the hips of a man
Last Line: Who begins her warble knowing %she has all day to sing
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


ALLEGRISSIMO, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: His words get away, so many ballons
Last Line: She is so happy, there is absolutely nothing %she can say
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


ARPEGGIATION, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: A combed chord
Last Line: If you look down, %you fall
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


AS ACCENT, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: A horn behind you which says go
Last Line: You were sure of what you'd seen. %any sharp pain
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


AS DIMINUENDO, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Can you feel the speaker's breath as he comes closer?
Last Line: Do you really believe this ends in silence?
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


AT THE PIANO, by THOMAS HARDY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A woman was playing
Last Line: And the phantom hid nigh.
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


BLACK KEYS, by MARGARET R. RICHTER    Poem Text                    
First Line: My fingers falter even in the scale
Last Line: How sad a thing in love is one false note.
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


BY THE FIRE ('AM KAMIN'); AFTER ROBERT SCHUMAN, by LISA RUSS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Tsk, tsk of the metronome
Last Line: Leaping again from the dark, ash-silted cave
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


CANTUS, by RICHARD FOERSTER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Not this smoke, this spent wick, but the pale
Last Line: Death but the dying
Subject(s): Melodies; Musical Instruments; Pianos; Singing And Singers


CLIFF DWELLER LYRICS: THE SOLOIST, by BERTON BRALEY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Lady, you who sing soprano
Last Line: Or I'll throw a bomb!
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos; Singing & Singers; Voices; Songs


COMMUNITY ORCHESTRA, by DAVID KELLER    Poem Source                    
First Line: It is not too late to find our chairs
Last Line: But not explain, like joy
Subject(s): Bands; Music And Musicians; Musical Instruments; Pianos


CUBAN DANCE, by RAMON DE PALMA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Upon the air amid the night the orchestra is playing
Last Line: The outcry of our souls is heard amid thine echoes there!
Subject(s): Bands; Cuba; Music And Musicians; Musical Instruments; Pianos


DINING OUT, by JOHN KRUMBERGER    Poem Source                    
First Line: A man sings romantic ballads in the piano lounge swaying like a bear
Last Line: Cliff
Subject(s): Dinners And Dining; Grief; Love - Complaints; Musical Instruments; Pianos; Tears


DROPPING INTO THE KEYS, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: How from height to the ivory water
Last Line: How then through the rising air, %fish shines
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


EARLY IN THE MORNING I HEAR ON YOUR PIANO, by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: While the birds are singing in the morning of the day
Alternate Author Name(s): Stevenson, Robert Lewis Balfour
Subject(s): Pianos; Morning


ERA UN AIRE SUAVE..., by FELIX RUBEN GARCIA SARMIENTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
Last Line: Y es cruel
Alternate Author Name(s): Dario, Ruben
Subject(s): Amor; Belleza; El Bailar Y Bailarines; Flores; Instrumentos Musicales; Instrumentos Musicales; MÚsica Y MÚsicos; MelodÍas; Pianos; PoesÍa Y Poetas


EVERY GOOD BOY DOES FINE, by JARED LEISING    Poem Source                    
First Line: Hey, it's just a piano, baby
Last Line: Have never quit taking %those lessons
Subject(s): Learning; Musical Instruments; Pianos


FALSE, NOCTURNE, by LAWRENCE RAAB    Poem Source                    
First Line: Learning how to play the piano, I favored
Last Line: Why not try to feel in time?
Subject(s): Learning; Musical Instruments; Pianos


FANTASIA, by LEONARD EDWARD NATHAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The old grand piano
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos; Travel


FERMATA, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Fermata the thin silk umbrella
Last Line: Who came to him like a dark wind %from the south, the woman,fermata
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


FORTISSIMO, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: To play fortissimo
Last Line: The poet of least resistance %who writes past the end of his poem
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


FUGUE, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Here is the yearn that sews her life
Last Line: To her skin, white as night sea, %the yearn dolphining through
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


GAY CHAPS AT THE BAR: PIANO AFTER WAR, by GWENDOLYN BROOKS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: On a snug evening I shall watch her fingers
Variant Title(s): Piano After War
Subject(s): African Americans - Military; Musical Instruments; Pianos


GAY CHAPS AT THE BAR: PIANO AFTER WAR, by GWENDOLYN BROOKS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: On a snug evening I shall watch her fingers
Last Line: And stone will shove the softness from my face
Variant Title(s): Piano After Wa
Subject(s): African Americans - Military; Musical Instruments; Pianos


GIRL AT THE PIANO, by ELEANOR G. R. YOUNG    Poem Text                    
First Line: Such slender fingers
Last Line: And lo, the practice hour has hurried by!
Subject(s): Music & Musicians; Musical Instruments; Pianos


GLINT, by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My grandmother mentioned only once how the piano teacher she had as
Last Line: They're drifting just outside the tune.
Subject(s): Grandparents; Kisses; Lips; Music Teachers; Musical Instruments; Pianos; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers


GLISSANDO, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: To glide, %your thin edge
Last Line: Exult. Glissando says: %I fly
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


GRACE NOTES, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sometimes dance %astaire's clean brush before he taps
Last Line: Like astaire, %whose last dance blossomed into air
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


GREEN PIANO, by ROBERT PINSKY    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Aeolian. Gratis. Great thunderer, half-ton infant of miracles
Last Line: Pink one, forever green one, white-and-gold one, comforter, living soul
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Neighbors; Pianos


GYMNOPEDIE, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: A ring of naked boys
Last Line: I am afraid to touch them
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


INTENSIVE CARE, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: The old man breathes
Last Line: The last clean wings %have flown %from mr. Thalberg's hands
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


IT WAS A GENTLE AIR, by FELIX RUBEN GARCIA SARMIENTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It was a gentle air of lilting spirals
Last Line: And cruel and eternal is her laughter of gold!
Alternate Author Name(s): Dario, Ruben
Subject(s): Beauty; Dancing And Dancers; Flowers; Melodies; Music And Musicians; Musical Instruments; Pianos


LA DANZA CUBANA, by RAMON DE PALMA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Los aires rompe
Last Line: Tus ecos el
Subject(s): El Bailar Y Bailarines; Instrumentos Musicales; Instrumentos Musicales; MÚsica Y MÚsicos; Pianos


LAMENT OF THE PIANOS ... OVERHEARD IN WELL-TO-DO QUARTERS, by JULES LAFORGUE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Lead the soul whom letters have well nourished
Last Line: "o months, o linens, o meals!"
Subject(s): Despair; Musical Instruments; Pianos


LEARNING TO PLAY, by ABBIE FARWELL BROWN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Upon a tall piano stool
Last Line: "then I shall call it ""play."
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


LOST ART OF CHINA, by SARAH MATE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Little nikko njan plays the piano
Last Line: A work of art long gone %reborn
Subject(s): Art And Artists; Music And Musicians; Musical Instruments; Pianos; Poetry And Poets


MAKING THE CHOICE, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: A piano to wear on her fingers
Last Line: Suddenly, everything whe thought %was fastened, comes undone
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


MODULATION, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: At five, with tight french braids
Last Line: And the monarchs, with %their thousand paper wings
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


MORDENT, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: A mordent is a trick of light
Last Line: Its wings, which shiver %like the lashes of a dreaming boy
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


MUSIC, by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My friend went to the piano; spun the stool
Last Line: "how pretty!"" we said; and went on with our talk again."
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


MUSICIANS DEBATE EMBELLISHMENT, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Only liars dress the dead
Last Line: Her eyes are green as an emperor's jade
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


OCTAVE, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: It is what happens
Last Line: Calling across some dark orange dawn %to the farthest rim of rock
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


OVERTONES, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Her white finger falls
Last Line: And then become nothing at all
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PEDALPOINT, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: A mother's heartbeat to her foetus
Last Line: Locks, passing in the panama night %from the one to the other sea
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PERFORMANCE ANXIETY, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Here is my case
Last Line: A sudden scurry of fur %transfixed by your high beams
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANIST WHO KEEPS A LOADED GUN ON HER PIANO..., by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: The children know not to knock
Last Line: This fierce first step over %air, is worth dying for
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANIST'S DREAM, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: I shoulder in a sweat-stained bag
Last Line: He leaps for the letters %that are in my hand, my hand
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANIST'S FEAR OF DEATH, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: The moment a finger's down
Last Line: Know what you call, %when you whistle in that yard
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANIST'S NEXT DAY, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Someone else %walked from the wings last night
Last Line: On my face %are the burns of their applause
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANO, by CHON PONGGON    Poem Source                    
First Line: From the fingertips of a lady
Last Line: A sharpened edge %of the waves
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANO, by FRANK DAVEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: I sit on the edge
Last Line: %hide my fists %in my hands
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANO, by ANN DERNIER    Poem Source                    
First Line: I am dressing to meet my sister
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANO, by JOHN DUFFRESNE    Poem Source                    
First Line: As clara leafed through her husband's %compositions in her lap
Last Line: A spare blue shape that curved away
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANO, by KIMIKO HAHN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The children's banging on the piano
Last Line: That summer bedtime arrived %when the whole world closed its enormous eyelid
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANO, by EMILY HIESTAND    Poem Source                    
First Line: Outside is the ocean
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANO, by BILL HOLM    Poem Source                    
First Line: He got up, dragging his heavy parts
Last Line: The mind drawn back into the hands where %it always should have been: its only home
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANO, by GREG KUZMA    Poem Source                    
First Line: I look at my daughter
Last Line: How empty is a life %without its music in it
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANO, by DAVID HERBERT LAWRENCE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me
Last Line: Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past.
Alternate Author Name(s): Lawrence, D. H.
Subject(s): Children; Memory; Music & Musicians; Musical Instruments; Nostalgia; Pianos; Singing & Singers; Time; Childhood; Songs


PIANO, by HOLLY PRADO    Poem Source                    
First Line: White as candles then all the minor chords
Last Line: With nothing left to say %but every word has entered %as a lover enters and will not leave
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANO, by LISA RUSS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Red riding hood and her grandmother
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos; Travel


PIANO AT MIDNIGHT, by MICHAEL CHARLES ALSTON MOTT    Poem Source                    
First Line: You stop your walk along the beach
Last Line: All debts are canceled. All are free
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Night; Pianos


PIANO BURIAL, by EDA LOU WALTON    Poem Text                    
First Line: Empty the garden where I played your singing
Last Line: Mountains-sides of aspen.
Subject(s): Decay; Flowers; Musical Instruments; Pianos; Rot; Decadence


PIANO IN SAINT PAUL, by LAURA LINNEA JENSEN    Poem Source                    
First Line: From memory %our piano
Last Line: For good sense-- %while I grieve %yet live
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANO LESSONS, by RACHEL DACUS    Poem Source                    
First Line: The black and white keys had a watery shine. When depressed
Last Line: Music is the trail you leave as you fly
Subject(s): Music And Musicians; Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANO LESSONS, by WILLIAM MATTHEWS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Sometimes the music is locked
Alternate Author Name(s): Matthews, William Procter
Subject(s): Music & Musicians; Pianos; Music Teachers


PIANO LESSONS, by SANDY MCINTOSH    Poem Source                    
First Line: (spoken) my sunt curled her fingers over mine
Last Line: Birth- day par- %ty
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANO LESSONS, by BARON WORMSER    Poem Source                    
First Line: The johnsons have her so must we
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANO PRACTICE, by JEANNE EMMONS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Your small fingers seek the keys
Last Line: A pressure becomes a kind of music
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANO PRACTICE, by HOWARD MOSS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Such splendid icecaps and hard rills, such weights
Last Line: Half fact and half enigma. Now your hands %are on the mysteries of the commonplace
Subject(s): Music And Musicians; Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANO SOLO, by NICANOR PARRA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Since man's life is nothing but a bit of action at a distance
Last Line: I want my soul to find its proper body sand
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANO TEACHER, by LUISA IGLORIA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Who can tell how many fingers
Last Line: And how it cannot entirely %diminish love
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANO TUNER, UNTUNE ME THAT TUNE, by OGDEN NASH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I regret that before people can be reformed they have to be sinners,
Last Line: And each little one playing 'chopsticks' twenty-four hours a day in all the nurseries of all his har
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANO TUNING, by MARIANNE BORUCH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Of course, I left it, the tuning hammer
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PIANO [ODA AL PIANO], by NEFTALI RICARDO REYES BASUALTO    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Midway in the concert
Alternate Author Name(s): Neruda, Pablo
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PLAYER PIANO, by RANDALL JARRELL    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I ate pancakes one night in a pancake house
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Nostalgia; Pianos


PLAYER PIANO, by WYATT PRUNTY    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Learning from a player piano
Last Line: Thought made mechanical, not grand but upright
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PLAYER PIANO, by JOHN UPDIKE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My stick fingers, click with a snicker
Last Line: Misstrums me, or tries a new tune
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PLAYER PIANO, by JOHN UPDIKE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My stick fingers, click with a snicker
Last Line: Misstrums me, or tries a new tune
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PLAYING HIROSHIMA, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Did you know the ones with colds wear surgical masks
Last Line: Softly...Pianissimo? %they do
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PLAYING SOMEONE ELSE'S PIANO, by KAREN SWENSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Touching you / slipping fingers between your thighs
Last Line: Which only the other can hear.
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos; Sex


POWER OF THE RIGHT FOOT, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
Last Line: And smiles, %and lifts her veil
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


PRODIGY, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: He was born with the fingerpads of the blind
Last Line: Brushing it as if by accident %with his leg, his sleeve
Subject(s): Music And Musicians; Musical Instruments; Pianos


PULL DOWN/RELEASE, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Here the climb really ends. Pull down
Last Line: They are not as young as you. %they know
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


REQUESTS FOR A TOY PIANO, by TONY HOAGLAND    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: Play the one about the family of the ducks
Last Line: Not even flowers can remember
Subject(s): Pianos; Poetry & Poets


REST, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: An unpainted sky crossed by branches
Last Line: Four small red horses that gallop away
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


RITARDANDO, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: For months gahagan gathered in
Last Line: And loops of bullets %and went downtown
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


SASHA, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: The half-played piece flies off
Last Line: Curls under a bridge. The %beginner lifts his hands
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


SENRYU (91), by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Now she's got a baby
Last Line: Gives no satisfaction
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


SEVERAL MEASURES FOR THE LITTLE LOST, by NORMAN DUBIE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The lesson begins in a heated room
Last Line: After all of the lamb has left the bone it warned.
Subject(s): History; Hunger; Musical Instruments; Pianos; Teaching & Teachers; Historians; Educators; Professors


SIGHT-READING, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Halfway through you realize
Last Line: Your sudden hands first told you %you were lost
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


SILENT PIANO, by PETER DAVISON    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh, how it sounded fifty years ago!
Last Line: Shrunk into furniture. The making of music %dwindles into harmonics from the past
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


SOLO DE PIANO, by NICANOR PARRA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Ya que la vida
Last Line: Y quiero que mi
Subject(s): Instrumentos Musicales; Instrumentos Musicales; Pianos


SOME MEMBERS OF THE CHORD FAMILY: DIMINISHED, THEIR DAUGHTER, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Amid the dulles rush she perches
Last Line: No chance she will miss her plane
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


SOME MEMBERS OF THE CHORD FAMILY: MINOR, HIS WIFE, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: They met at fort meade the summer
Last Line: In all their married life, he never %quite touched her
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


SOME MEMBERS OF THE CHORD FAMILY: THE MAJOR, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Every morning he waxes his moustache
Last Line: Felt the need to change. Looking %into the mirror, he begins it now
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: JOSEPH DIXON, by EDGAR LEE MASTERS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Who carved this shattered harp on my stone?
Last Line: And use me again if I am worthy to use.
Subject(s): Harps; Musical Instruments; Pianos; Lyres


STACCATO, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: The woodpecker drums
Last Line: At his bald beak %his head of stopped fire
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


STANZAS ON FINDING THE KEY OF AN OLD PIANO, by E. JUSTINE BAYARD    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Unlock, unlock the shrines of memory
Last Line: The portal spirit of the gates of song.
Alternate Author Name(s): Cutting, E. Justine
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


TASK OF THE ACCOMPANIST, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Dear friends start up the drive
Last Line: And the tiled baths, with their %blue and inlaid eyes of boys
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


TECHNIQUE, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Rock your hand
Last Line: But you will not, %having chosen to go by water
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


TEN MINUTES, A WEATHER FOR PIANO, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: The suddenly heavy sun
Last Line: Through his shirt his shoulderblades %yearn, where his father pinched for wings
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


TENDENCY TO COMPLAIN, by JUANITA BROWN TOBIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: An itinerant piano tuner
Last Line: Somebody would find fault with it.'
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


TENDER BUTTONS: A PIANO, by GERTRUDE STEIN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If the speed is open, if the color is careless, if the selection of a strong
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


TENDER BUTTONS: A PIANO, by GERTRUDE STEIN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If the speed is open, if the color is careless, if the selection of a strong
Last Line: #name?
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


THE EBONY CHICKERING, by DORIANNE LAUX    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My mother cooked with lard she kept
Last Line: As he bowed, and she slipped him the check.
Subject(s): Cooking & Cooks; Mothers & Daughters; Musical Instruments; Pianos; Cookery


THE GREEN PIANO, by ROBERT PINSKY    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Aeolian. Gratis. Great thunderer, half-ton infant of miracles
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Neighbors; Pianos


THE KEY-BOARD, by WILLIAM WATSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Five and thirty black slaves
Last Line: By her finger-tips.
Alternate Author Name(s): Watson, John William
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


THE LOVER OF MUSIC TO HIS PIANOFORTE, by JAMES HENRY LEIGH HUNT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: O friend, whom glad or grave we seek
Last Line: Thine answer, kind.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hunt, Leigh
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


THE OPENING OF THE PIANO, by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In the little southern parlor of the house you may have seen
Last Line: "open it! Open it, lady! And let me see the bird!"
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


THE PIANO, by ARCHIBALD LAMPMAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Low brooding cadences that dream and cry
Last Line: With eyes unblanched, time and eternity.
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


THE PIANO AT RED'S, by CHARLES BADGER CLARK JR.    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Twas a hole called red's saloon
Last Line: Back in red's saloon!
Alternate Author Name(s): Clark, Badger
Subject(s): Bars & Bartenders; Cowboys; Music & Musicians; Musical Instruments; Pianos; Pubs; Taverns; Saloons


THE PLAYER PIANO, by RANDALL JARRELL    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I ate pancakes one night in a pancake house
Last Line: Plays itself out a half-inch from my fingers
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Nostalgia; Pianos


THE PLAYER PIANO, by WYATT PRUNTY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Learning from a player piano
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


THE RED PIANO, by ANSELM HOLLO    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A red piano / he says
Last Line: Let us think more musical thoughts.
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


TO A PIANISTE, by JAMES THOMSON (1700-1748)    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I saw thee once, I see thee now
Last Line: His glorious unheard harmony.
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


TO PLAY PIANISSIMO, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Does not mean silence
Last Line: And to lay them across her lap like a shawl
Subject(s): Music And Musicians; Musical Instruments; Pianos


TOURS, by CAROLYN D. WRIGHT    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A girl on the stairs listens to her father
Last Line: She presses stays down, makes no sound, %someone putting their tongue where their tooth had been
Alternate Author Name(s): Wright, C. D.
Subject(s): Children; Music And Musicians; Musical Instruments; Parents; Pianos; Violence


TRUE LEGATO, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Lifting one foot, the other falls
Last Line: Lost, she rocks the tattered score. %she does not know she sings
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


TWO VARIATIONS ON A THEME BY THELONIOUS MONK: 1. BLUE MONK, by LAWSON FUSAO INADA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Solid, as the man himself would say
Last Line: With the true, blue beauty of his song: 'blue monk'!
Subject(s): Monk, Thelonious (1917-1982); Music And Musicians; Musical Instruments; Pianos; Poetry And Poets; Singing And Singers


USES OF THE METRONOME, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Before you get sea legs
Last Line: The white sail slaps sky, %and you fly, you fly
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


VALUES, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Half notes are youngsters who do not know
Last Line: Sink to the bottom, how across the measure lines %they sing like stones
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


VARIATIONS FOR TWO PIANOS, by DONALD JUSTICE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There is no music now in all arkansas
Subject(s): Arkansas; Music & Musicians; Musical Instruments; Pianos


VARIATIONS FOR TWO PIANOS, by DONALD JUSTICE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There is no music now in all arkansas
Last Line: Higgins is gone, taking both his pianos %there is no music now in all arkansas
Subject(s): Arkansas; Music And Musicians; Musical Instruments; Pianos


VISITING SUNDAY: CONVENT NOVITIATE, by MADELINE DEFREES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The parlor doors shall be glazed, the custom book
Last Line: To write the lyric.
Alternate Author Name(s): Mary Gilbert, Sister; De Frees, Madeline
Subject(s): Convents; Cousins; Musical Instruments; Pianos


WAR BALLAD, by ANDREI VOZNESENSKY    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The piano has crawled into the quarry. Hauled
Last Line: I'll be a song for russia, I'll be %an etude, warmth and bread for everybody
Alternate Author Name(s): Voznesenskii, Andrei
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos; Religion; War


WARBLER'S SONG IN THE DUSK, by SAM HAMILL    Poem Source                    
First Line: I crossed an ocean
Last Line: And the soul sings out again
Subject(s): Japan; Music And Musicians; Musical Instruments; Pianos; Singing And Singers


WELL, YOU NEEDN'T, by WILLIAM MATTHEWS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Rather than hold his hands properly
Alternate Author Name(s): Matthews, William Procter
Subject(s): Monk, Thelonious (1917-1982); Mujsic Teachers; Pianos


WHAT BRINGS YOU TEARS?, by PAMELA GEMIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Today on the road that brought me here
Last Line: So what brings you here today? %what brings these tears?
Subject(s): Grief; Music And Musicians; Musical Instruments; Pianos; Tears


WHERE MUSIC COMES FROM, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: One performer shakes it from
Last Line: Not rise. The houselights come %on, which burn the skin like sun
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


WHY PERFORMERS WEAR BLACK, by LOLA HASKINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Because there is no black flower
Last Line: A whisper muffled in a woman's %hair, on the far dark shore
Subject(s): Musical Instruments; Pianos


YOUR MUSIC, by PAULINE OGDEN    Poem Text                    
First Line: Your slender fingers drift across the keys
Last Line: Feeling that you are playing just for me.
Subject(s): Dreams; Music & Musicians; Musical Instruments; Pianos; Nightmares