Silence.(Brief Article)(Poem)

 
Silence 
 
   All weekend I've listened 
   to a piano competition on the radio. 
 
   The contestants each play the same piece 
   until the small velvet hammers 
 
   at the base of my neck are struck 
   before the notes emerge. 
 
   The commentator explains how much exists 
   in the silence between strikes. 
 
   The judges' decision is often based 
   on these pauses of possibility. 
 
   That space of becoming reminds me 
   of the child's foot in Neruda's poem, 
 
   not knowing its purpose. 
   Like hands at a piano before they swoop 
 
   uncertain if they've been given the span 
   of a ...