Nothing to shake a stick at,
hollow inside, I’m anything but shallow.
The deeper I am, the louder
silence is struck a blow.
drum
Love often looks like me—
two lovers, and then three—
although, in love, the third stays out of view.
I play upstage. I can be quiet, too.
triangle
I live on a limited scale.
Homeless, I collapse and wheeze
on the subway. As if you care!
Sorry to be so sentimental,
but buddy, please,
can you spare a dime?
Otherwise you may have to bear
the polka, one more time.
accordion
Shaped much like an angel’s wing,
like angel hair my lengths of string,
I’m strummed by angels as they sing.
harp
In nursery school, before you learned to read,
you played like Pan upon a simple reed.
My name says what I do—
I bring your earliest memories back to you.
recorder