Blackbirdan online journal of literature and the artsSpring 2017  Vol. 16 No. 1
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an online journal of literature and the arts
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back STEVEN RATINER

Schubert (with the volume turned up)

Measure after measure.
Lieder strung with barbed wire.

~

At this volume, the speakers tremble.

The German tenor, his voice
like ripened fruit with
the rot gouged out.

~

Too much grave in this Ave.
More despair than grace in her Maria.

~

On such an exquisite morning, how could one
do anything but sing? Spring-stirred hillsides,
cloud upon cloud like heaven’s battlements,
even the columns of smoke quickly dispersed
by a southerly breeze.

~

Immeasurable.
All those hollow black eyes gazing out
between the taut black staves.  


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