"Major Music Studios"

MAJOR MUSIC STUDIOS

The glitter of a drum set caught my eye

but I told Mom

as we passed by the gold trombones

in the shop window

that someday I wouldn’t mind

learning guitar. But I was surprised

how quickly she ushered me into the shop

where a cluster of cowbells clanked at the door

and the walls were covered

with mandolins, dobroes and Gretsch

hollow-body electric guitars.

For nearly an hour I wandered about,

breathless before those feminine shapes

until I had to cough to catch my breath.

Words can’t explain

the burst of elation felt that day

when a three-quarter-sized Spanish guitar

tinted in shades of orange and brown

was lifted up from a plush-lined case

and placed in the cradle of my young hands.

Mark Madigan received his MFA in Writing from Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky. His poems have previously appeared in The American Scholar, California Quarterly,The Louisville Review, Poetry, Tar River Poetry and other magazines.