American Life in Poetry: Column 188<\/p>\n
I really like this poem by Dick Allen, partially for the way he so easily draws us in, with his easygoing, conversational style, but also for noticing what he has noticed, the overlooked accompanist there on the stage, in the shadow of the singer. – Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet laureate, 2004-2006.<\/p>\n
– by Dick Allen<\/p>\n
I’ve always worried about you–the man or woman
\nat the piano bench,
\nnight after night receiving only such applause
\nas the singer allows: a warm hand please,
\nfor my accompanist. At concerts,
\nas I watch your fingers on the keys,
\nand how swiftly, how excellently
\nyou turn sheet music pages,
\ntrack the singer’s notes, cover the singer’s flaws,
\nI worry about whole lifetimes,
\nmost lifetimes
\nlived in the shadows of reflected fame;
\nbut then the singer’s voice dies
\nand there are just your last piano notes,
\nnot resentful at all,
\ncarrying us to the end, into those heartfelt cheers
\nthat spring up in little patches from a thrilled audience
\nlike sudden wildflowers bobbing in a rain
\nof steady clapping. And I’m on my feet, also,
\nclapping and cheering for the singer, yes,
\nbut, I think, partially likewise for you
\nhalf-turned toward us, balanced on your black bench,
\nmodest, utterly well-rehearsed,
\nstill playing the part you’ve made yours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
American Life in Poetry: Column 188 – The Accompanist, poem by Dick Allen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}