The Page Turner
- The Page Turner
Fingertips ready at the page tipwith the vigilance of a physician.An executor of Chopin herself,she knows the crests and tidesof the Revolutionary:the falling notes adamantly rising,the clenched accents, the searingchordal surge, the eyes sharpto every bar’s turn and rush.This is a matchless surveillance:the precise wait for the secondbefore the last descending semiquaver;the crucial bar before the page spin.Then to keep from being astoundedby the flashes of con fuoco,the simmering bass rumblingsor the peripheral disturbanceof a fly, a globe outage, a cough.It is a watchman’s focus, a vital quiet hand.It is the making of a smooth wheel,to be an assistant to the carrierof the brazen light. [End Page 734]
amanda anastasi is a Melbourne writer and poet. Her work has been published in magazines and anthologies in Australia, New Zealand, the U.S., the U.K., and Ireland. Her debut collection, 2012 and other poems, was listed in “Top Ten Poetic Works of 2012” in Overland Literary Journal. Her poetry was shortlisted for the W. B. Yeats Poetry Prize and the Nillumbik Ekphrasis Poetry Award.
