Get NiftyLit news & updates delivered directly to your inbox. Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

x
Skip to main content
Original artwork by Katie M. Zeigler

The Great Pretender


Ace Boggess
Poetry

Marching with the junior-high band,

I pretended to play clarinet

 

while digits bounced ineptly,

dull, above the keys.        

 

If I added voice to musicians in their choir,

my instrument would whine complaints.

 

Annexed by the troupe,

I fingered quick approximations of each note.

 

Reed depressing tongue, denied vibration,

performed its function to precision,

 

complementing tunes with quiet

unnoticed on crowded streets.

 

In the parade, I focused on my feet &

couldn’t keep a rhythm even then.