Ana Ristović

No sooner had a time of upheaval started

than the director of the opera opted for irony

by closing himself inside a concert piano

having shot four air-holes in it with a Beretta.

 

For a while the walls of the empty hall

echoed bis soliloquy

sent out into the air the music barrel -

 

On usefulness of music, in a time of upheaval - 

The gong is to be placed in the field in place of a cauldron,

the bells are to be lowered onto the sacks of flour and salt,

the gold coin and buttons into the yawning openings of trumpets,

while the jars of jam and lard are to be placed into the pianos

lined up in well-lit entrance halls

like black turtles frozen

in the act of pulling their heads into the shells;

 

Notes containing secret messages are to be strung

along violin strings piled up and tossed

among the fishing rods;

 

A child without a cot might be placed

inside a modified double bass

 

The Army, too, would be much happier if the rations

were handed out using tambouritzas

instead of small ladles

 

Drumsticks are to be offered to the local police force

for there is always skinn streched tighter than drums

 

For better control of the melody

jingle bells are to be moved from sleighs onto caps,

even music evolves when moved from lower to upper regions

 

The greater the silence the more loudspeakers there are,

tape-recorders to record the unrecognised vibration

The silencer market is to be busted

 

Flags are to bu hung on bows

 

And the privileged domain of sound carriers,

multipliers of the already vanished tone,

is to be left to the silent rocks alone:

the distance seperating their state of amnesia

will never violated

 

Music gives instruments up easily

in a time of upheaval, the whole world belongs to it

shoul it forget it tools -

 

Thus rattled he, a dry seed inside the piano:

the director of the empty stage and curtains

forever raised like folded-up sails...

 

No sooner had he opted for irony than he was lowered into the cellar

on the backs and by the hands of stokers and porters

for polished wood is good for kindling

when the hall needs to be warmed up

for the coming of the choir

 

And the piano keys - like dominoes - are to be stuffed onto a sack

someone is bound to come up with

rules for a new game.