{"id":300,"date":"2011-06-28T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-28T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=300"},"modified":"2011-06-28T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-06-28T11:00:00","slug":"valerie-sirrs-tempo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/valerie-sirrs-tempo\/","title":{"rendered":"Valerie Sirr's 'Tempo'"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tempo<\/span>

You angle the plastic stick. You check the instruction sheet. Pee gets on your fingers<\/span>
          Outside dopplered music heralds the approach of an ice cream van. Children shout, a dog yelps in time to Mendelsshon blasting calliope style from loudspeakers. <\/span>
          Children come running.<\/span>
You think of the tent at the garden f\u00e9te: wind walloping the roof, notes flying against it. Your new Alice band tightening, your fingers light on ivory keys. <\/span>Spring Song<\/span> from <\/span>Songs Without Words<\/span>. Careful to stroke the arpeggios gently, notes quiet and tranquil like a harp. Your timing immaculate. Your first prize. <\/span>
          The stick waits on the bedroom sill. A neighbour\u2019s child cries. A burst of April sunshine spotlights your talcy footprints, new lines at your mouth, your music trophies\u2019 marble sheen: \u2018I would like to take this opportunity…\u2019 You were careful never to leave out important names. Careful not to slip on the steps from the stage. You wore killer heels. Cameras flashed. You were blinded.<\/span>
          Outside a drainpipe drips like a fast metronome. Your fingers tap absent keys, trying to catch up.<\/span>
  <\/p>\n



*Valerie Sirr<\/span> holds an M. Phil in Creative Writing from Trinity College, Dublin, and her fiction has been widely published. She is the recipient of several literature awards, including the Hennessy New Irish Writer Award. She teaches creative writing and literature appreciation.<\/span>
<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TempoYou angle the plastic stick. You check the instruction sheet. Pee gets on your fingers          Outside dopplered music heralds the approach of an ice cream van. Children shout, a dog yelps in time to Mendelsshon blasting calliope style from loudspeakers.           Children come running.You think of the tent at the garden f\u00e9te: wind walloping the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}