Unplayed Harmonica by Michael Dylan Welch and Carmen Sterba
Winner of an honorable mention in the
2018 San Francisco International Rengay Competition sponsored by the Haiku
Poets of Northern California. First published in Mariposa #41, Autumn/Winter 2019, page 29.
Originally written on 8 March 2009, on the road between Portland, Oregon and
University Place, Washington.
tree fort—
the trumpet’s spit valve
stuck shut Michael
a toy piano
out in the rain Carmen
a few empty seats—
the timpani roll fades
into dusk Michael
foreclosure—
unplayed harmonica
on the mantelpiece Carmen
a stringless banjo
from papa’s attic Michael
ring of primroses
in an upturned French horn—
Easter morning Carmen
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