I see white
Black.

Fingers graze keys as the
pressure put on each goes
down.

Pressure.
I hear in my head,

“Do it again.”
My shoulders slump
and again I play

Red welts form
hands shaking

Repetition.
A living metronome
human error ceases.

Eyes closed, I breathe in
Breathe out

She’s not here.
The teacher is gone
and blank keys stare, waiting

I play the first few notes
and wince.

Discord of keys
haunts the silence
each note pierces

The dissonance
stains the walls

 

Melody Choi is a Freshman at SUNY Geneseo. She is a Psychology major originally from Queens NY and has been playing piano for most of her life. She was inspired to write this piece as a way of venting her frustrations over the very-out-of-tune pianos in Brodie Hall.