Lesson

 

A cell, an upright piano. Sentence, one hour. I’ve never shown any interest in music, never tapped out thumps on the dining table, stamped out beats in my scrappy shoes or hummed silly tunes. The teacher is an old spindly man. Grim, out of a Grimm’s tale. Scarecrow hair, thinning. Unsmiling. He wields a thin stick. Hits the right finger when I hit the wrong key.Hits it again, again and again.

Maggie Mackay has a poem ‘How to Distil a Guid Scotch Malt’ in the Poetry Archive’s WordView permanent collection. Her second collection ‘The Babel of Human Travel was published in 2022. Her beautiful greyhound inspires the words. @Bonniedreamer @joyouspoet