Kurt Vonnegut loved music
because it had the decency
not to explain itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nobody asks
what position it takes
on capitalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The drummer hits the snare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A trumpet plays B-flat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vonnegut imagined once
human beings communicating
without language,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
which seems reasonable<\/p>\n\n\n\n
considering what language
has accomplished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wars. Contracts. Campaign speeches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Music had another proposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here is a vibration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here is another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Put them together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
See if you feel less alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He played clarinet,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the instrument most likely
to sound like a duck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps that’s why
he understood artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You practice for years<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to become capable
of making something<\/p>\n\n\n\n
that disappears
the instant you make it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A note. Gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A whole symphony<\/p>\n\n\n\n
vanishing successfully
for two hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The universe is doing
the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone invents bebop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone else complains
it isn’t music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then everybody dies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But before that happens<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a piano waits
in somebody’s living room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A child discovers middle C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An old woman remembers
a song her mother sang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A saxophonist takes a solo
and accidentally plays<\/p>\n\n\n\n
something he has never
played before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For eleven seconds<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the universe
doesn’t seem meaningless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The band keeps playing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nobody has solved anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perfect. Vonnegut smiles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kurt Vonnegut loved musicbecause it had the decencynot to explain itself. Nobody askswhat position it takeson capitalism. The drummer hits the snare. A trumpet plays B-flat. So it goes. Vonnegut […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"Layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","author-rockbob","post-9672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9672\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}