Poet’s Showcase

Eulogy for the Piano Teacher
By Emily Bobo

Ruth in the thumb-frayed edges of the wrong piece
of music, in the dust let loose from its pages,
in the scores of scores not-quite-the-right-one
stuffed into all reachable space.
Ruth in the haphazard hierarchy of genius: Glover
next to Schumann over Bach below Gillock.
Ruth in the clover footstool for reaching the unreachable.
Ruth in the hanging mirror on an open door.
Ruth in the easy closeness of overstuffed space.
Ruth in the pull-chain bulb: functional, essential, light
minus glare and diffusion.
Ruth in the silence, in the stillness of notes
waiting.

The Delicate Balance of Maple Avenue
By Chris Citro
Has been lost. You can tell.
The people in this neighborhood
prowl around like their ideas
of how wild beasts would.

Everyone’s looking for it, trying
not to give anything away,
hoping to squeeze a clue

Out of an unguarded remark.
See how hard they stare
into each other’s eyes,

The way they keep twirling around?
It might be dancing. It might
be checking one’s back compulsively.

— Emily Bobo and Chris Citro will read their poetry at 8 p.m. Friday at the Lawrence Arts Center for the Lawrence Poetry Series.