Hattie Wilcox

—photo of Mark Wood by Hattie Wilcox 2008

Fiddle Music

I imagine a home inside a violin
sleeping in the dark hole
until the case opens
and I'm awakened by the
squeak and screech
of a 4-year-old's
chubby hand on the bow
swept up in a brush with
the kiss and swish of hair and strings
the swell, ebb and flow of a virtuoso
perfumed hair and the whisper
of a barely-there red-satin dress
the chop of a tobacco-chewing
hollerer from the hills
the booming stomp of boots
pounding a wood-plank floor
I am loved every day
tucked under a chin
against the warmth of skin
hovering above a shoulder
a jostling ride, rocking
every which way in the box
reeling and shaking
the singing vibrations
the grunting and sweat
the depths the rhythm
the strain the offering
breathing
someone's soul

CP

Hattie Wilcox's love of poetry and piano led her to songwriting and the 2008 release of her debut CD, Red Bird Tattoo. She has won prize money for her lyrics and has lived to see her first royalty check. She continues to write poetry—her first love.