A Backyard Symphony by Diana Vaniotis
Edited by Parivash Fahim Goff
Metallic chimes write the melody
As crashing waves pound the chorus.
The beat faint in the distance: a foghorn metronome
Blowing a
Low
Slow
Rhythmic cadence as the
Mournful aria of a lone sealion
Fades in and out with the breeze.
An orchestra perpetually warming up
Discordant now, a promise to synchronize
But it never does.
The waving wands of lavender conductors ignored
As an audience of bees murmurs the buzz of anticipation
Waiting for the music to begin
My program is devoid of composers, selected movements, monied contributors
Just listen, it says
I am lulled by the fugue of tinkling metal bars
Constantly rearranging, never repeating
I am an aphasic trying to pull out the words
To match the music
They come in and out of focus
A short sequence, a phrase
But no meaningful message.
A memo though, is imprinted
directly to my brain
Just listen, it whispers
hummmmmmmm
mmmmmmmmm.
Diana Vaniotis
Diana lives on the Central Coast in California where she spends her post- teaching career days taking daily walks along the sea, tends her garden, pals around with her plucky dog, Poppy, reads and reads some more, engages in civic activism and occasionally cooks up a storm of Mediterranean food to share with family and friends. That was before the Covid pandemic. Now she essentially does the same thing, but with a mask.