Zen Poetry #2: Piano Practice Distractions
A talented, piano playing woman named Vera
Practices a piano piece from the classical era.
It’s the 2nd movement of Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata.
She gets through the beginning without any errors-
Well, a little bit- but at least, gradually with grace-
And then to the repetitive part without feeling any terror
And now for a challenge she gotta face-
The second theme of this exposition!
She hits the wrong key,
And- uh-oh-
Here comes her piano practice frustration!
She takes a breath and starts that second theme over.
She’s slowing down the tempo to avoid errors,
Showing her hands that they can’t control her-
But all of a sudden, she hears a ding and a vibrating sound!
That scared her!
Turns out she got a text message
From her grandmother.
Her grandmother sent a news video where the cast talked about a lady exposing romaine lettuce.
Her grandmother stays having tea to spill- gotta love her!
So, Vera plays the vid while improvising on the piano.
It was a lady in line at a vegetarian/vegan restaurant, yelling,
“EVERYONE, NO ROMAINE LETTUCE! NO, NO, NOOOOO!“
And all the people in the line was wondering,
“Why is she saying, ‘no romaine lettuce’?”
And the lady- let her name be Cindy- said this:
“Okay, people, let me spread message on
Why we can’t have Romaine lettuce.
Some omnivorous chicken joint owner contaminated it
‘Cause he wanted more people to buy his chicken.
The fact that a large percentage of people in this town are going vegetarian and vegan-
I believe that made him ticked.”
Now Vera wondered, “What town is that?
‘Cause it sho’ sound like a small town.”
So, Vera scrolled through her phone
Looking for that small town
Where that interesting event happened-
That small town is called Herbal Town-
Now no wonder why a lot of its citizens
Have gone vegetarian and vegan.
Vera now puts her phone down,
For she feels that her frustration has reduced.
She takes a breath and practices piano again,
As if there is no win or lose.
