Eight p.m. and an extended vowel sounds from the pit, instruments braying, sustaining the nasal pitch of the audience. When Massey Hall quiets, a spotlight sets beyond its seats, and …
- by Jim JohnstoneJim Johnstone Updated 13:29, May. 20, 2016 | Published 8:30, May. 19, 2016This article was published over a year ago. Some information may no longer be current.
Illustrations by Hudson Christie
Eight p.m. and an extended vowel
sounds from the pit, instruments
braying, sustaining the nasal
pitch of the audience. When
Massey Hall quiets, a spotlight sets
beyond its seats, and farther
back, porters place bets
on whether a gaffer will fall
from the rigging. My father
sits in the mezzanine. He practises
bruising his hand with his fist
as if he were damping a trombone—
in and out with mock innocence,
so like his son, getting it wrong.
Jim Johnstone won a CBC Poetry Prize and has published four collections of verse.
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