A girl on the stairs listens to her father <br />Beat up her mother. <br />Doors bang. <br />She comes down in her nightgown. <br /> <br />The piano stands there in the dark <br />Like a boy with an orchid. <br /> <br />She plays what she can <br />Then she turns the lamp on. <br /> <br />Her mother's music is spread out <br />On the floor like brochures. <br /> <br />She hears her father <br />Running through the leaves. <br /> <br />The last black key <br />She presses stays down, makes no sound <br />Someone putting their tongue where their tooth had been.<br /><br />Carolyn D. Wright<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/tours/
