WRONG KEY.

A GIRL PRACTICING HER PIANO AND CHOPIN BUT THINKING OF A BOY IN 1962

It's Chopin
she plays

her fingers over
the keyboard

practice more
her mother says

Yochana nods
but Benedict's
on her mind

no matter how hard
she tries
his image leaks
in her mind

his quiff of hair
his hazel eyes
his Elvis smile
(so other girls say)

the Chopin piece
fails to move her

her fingers fail her
and she stops

why have
you stopped?
her mother says

missed a note
Yochana says

more than one
her mother says
breathing over
her shoulder
focus on the task
bring Chopin to life

Yochana begins again
her fingers moving
from memory

black notes
and white
the boy Benedict
sitting beside her
in her mind

his fingers copying
note for note

his other hand
out of sight

touching
(she imagines)
her knee

opps sorry Mother
wrong key.