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  • First Instrument
  • Thomas Devaney (bio)

Lesson one: pluck one string,repeat step. Put yourself inthe attitude of reception, thisis you.

Lesson two: save the moneyfor this lesson and continueonone string.

How you are sitting.

How the string feels on your fingersas much as its sound.

Early on you can go few places — so gowhere you canfor now.

When you walk or bikethrough the city:

        the string.

Address the banjo — that’s lesson three.

Its base in your hands: four.Neck in the air: five.

Think of a tune. Start to work it out in your head

If you start to shake slightly that’s OK. [End Page 9]

The floor may send a chill up your back;adjust.Chart the room as it trembles, the wallsare not so flat.

Lesson six, seven, eight, nine:look how different your banjo woke up today,it’s becoming your own.Think about all the lessonsup until now.

Remember the time you said, “I thinkI am going to learn to play.”That spark.

Remember the telephone wire and how it shone at night.Even after you closed your eyes it was there,and even now.

Review: continue to sit with your banjo.Take your time.

Sing all you want it to know:the first songs you heard—yell them.

You don’t have to say “I hope it likes what I say.”

The beat is not obvious—so make it obvious.

Exaggerate, addthe body, cancel the count.

Your feet, your head:Foot, head, leg, foot.Head, head, foot, foot—        Head, head, foot. [End Page 10]

Tenth lesson: four beats on, four off.Each rest gets perceptively softer,like you’re holding your breath underwater,but now you can breathe there.

Time isn’t too big a thing,it’s the only thing.

Look at the back of your hand—the hairon your hand.

What holds the notes together afterthey’ve been played? The room,the body of the banjo? Your head, fingers,a cloud, a locomotive? Checktemperature.

Tone matters.It’s familiar, in slammed doors, old pipes,vague shudders, a key of the clearest green.It’s one of many firsts. Todayit’s unevenand a bit lonely.

The early songs remainvibrating, in the air.It takes time,how time sounds, it’s not what you expect,and not completely safe—

Eleven: holed up    the sweat of the strings.

Sing yourself a question and sing back the answer.

This is July, that’s enoughfor the month. [End Page 11]

Lesson twelve: Late at night in late August,the light passes through the room—Domino, domino, dark domino.Out in the woodshed, whatever that placeis for you. Strum the open strings.Hold down a string and strum.Strum and hum.Listen to the night all night,it’s never the same.Watch. [End Page 12]

Thomas Devaney

thomas devaney is the author of five poetry collections, including Runaway Goat Cart, forthcoming from Hanging Loose in 2015, and The American Pragmatist Fell in Love. He is the 2014 recipient of a Pew Fellowship in the Arts and he teaches at Haverford College.

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