Metronome
published in Wild Roof Journal, Issue 32
https://wildroofjournal.com/issue-32-gallery-1/#SamanthaMalay

curtains closed to afternoon sun               
on a piano bench beside my mother        
surrounded by the fragile and heavy belongings
of friends who’d followed my father’s letters
to settle near us in the woods

my hands mimicked hers above the keys
but I thought the music lived in the fingers
that rolled cigarettes and loaves of bread
and pushed my hair behind my ears

as we walked along the edge of the field
and saw the work of underground animals
I wondered if she begrudged her time with me
and my lack of the tuneful genes
she shared with her overseas sisters