Fiddle Flight Poem by John Beaton

Fiddle Flight

Rating: 5.0


The mayflies ride the glides in slow procession
above the burbling eddies' low percussion;
their up-wings test the airs and dance in twitches.
His toe-taps and his fiddle-notes commingle,
one foot in double time, and one in single,
his bow-wrist drawing hints of lonesome touches

like wingtips brushing water. Blue and blurry,
a kingfisher skims by, a chattering flurry
that peels into a quietening pool of shadows.
And, leaning forwards, eyelids closed, his pulsing
body spring-winds and unwinds, convulsing,
as grace-notes rise like damselfly imagos.

Two merlins flex their wing-wrists and together,
stroking the winds with phalanges and feather,
they plunge and swing to horizontal planing—
he bends his elbow to the bow-stroke, wringing
the air and holds it long and double-stringing,
long and double-stringing, slow and gaining

power. Teals are slaloming meanders,
slip-streaming after arrowing mergansers
in echelons down the river. At the ocean
migrations, rafted on the estuary,
attune to Martin's call and, breaking free,
their surf of wings uprises with a motion

that rears and rolls towards the far horizon
in clouds composed of whirring masses, risen,
like dancers at a mediaeval fair,
uplifted by the music that has spurred
this journey: wings that beat without a bird—
the muscle-memory of County Clare.

Fiddle Flight
Friday, September 14, 2018
Topic(s) of this poem: music
POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
On several occasions, our friend and Irish master fiddler, Martin Hayes, has come to stay with us and do a concert in Qualicum. I've never witnessed any instrumentalist who could transport me the way he does. This poem describes where my mind went when listening to one of his tunes.

In this poem flight, a metaphor for the escalating speed and power of the music, starts with the delicacy of mayflies and flows down an expanding river to huge bird-flocks at the sea.

Each stanza has six lines in an aabccb rhyme-scheme. The rhymes are initially on two syllables, some of them imperfect (or "slant") . This gives a softness to the rhythm. Near the end, the introduction of some single-syllable rhymes brings strength and closure. Until they merge at the close, each stanza has two groups of lines: the first three dealing with birds and the second three with fiddling. The lines each have five beats, mainly embedded in two-syllable units ("iambic meter") , with some variations to avoid the "plodding" effect that can happen when this meter is too uniform. The beats in the first line are:
The MAYflies RIDE the GLIDES in SLOW proCESSion

This poem was first published in "Eyes on BC" magazine.
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Susan Williams 19 September 2018

Oh, heck, I should just save myself some work and time and give all your poetry a blanket of starry-eyed 10's and a place on the top shelf of my fav list. You are a remarkable word smith. totally awesomely remarkable.

0 0 Reply
John Beaton 19 September 2018

Thanks, Susan. You are very gracious. Thanks very much for reading and being so appreciative!

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Paul Brookes 27 August 2018

The images are clear in the readers mind as he sways to the rhythm and flow of the poem Great work

0 0 Reply
John Beaton 27 August 2018

Thanks, Paul, Glad you like it.

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