suite for piano

"Anyhow, the pork chops were perfectly normal; then: mashed potatoes, warm beets, sliced unpeeled apple strewn with paprika, and a large cup of coffee with cream! I was probably expected to eat all of this at the same time, since it was brought to me all together, in fact the paprika-apple and the chops shared the same plate!"

Bela Bartok to his family in Budapest, from Seattle, 18 January 1928.

allegretto

frost dives into the centre of each rabbit and comes out shaking. the moon hovers, white slice on a bright day. above all fields are the new girls, wearing shorn hats and bustierres, serving wooden cubes to rubber men. the old relation is kept but we still don’t fit in the aeroplane. here we are instead serving sub-zero, hanging from nylon strings underneath the bomb carriage, tangling together in the rubbishy wind.

scherzo

our apology wears fur. our apology is quite sure of having had no idea. but do submit your dent below ear for a kissing. natural selection will tell us who was naughty. oh it pulls at the corners of our eyes. what a gesture. even stenographers can perform it and they often have to. employment is a form of attitudinal tic, by which we mean we’re just serving truthful sandwiches. we don’t choose the way the crusts will cut.

allegro molto

if you’ve been around you’ll know what’s building. if you’ve been around you probably think you want to be spoke and not gravel. you might have eyes that cannot be harried that won’t trundle hoops and into which a life can drop without a wink.

sostenuto

backstage, under the piano watching. the lengthy girls do their legs. mother is busy with the safety pins. not everyone can be paid in desserts. an aeroplane has a lot of weight but it has a lot to carry. the future. the sweetness of a phenotype. clotted cream. a national renewal. if you leave the car running will anyone open the door for you. I heard the sigh but I have my own dolls here. something has dropped. and so.