Dominique

Still Life With My Living Room In Sixty Seconds: Arpeggiated Canon For Cello And Flute In D Minor

By Jeff Kilpatrick

a variation on “Sarabande” from Handel’s”Suite In D Minor,” HWV 437


Six degrees’ rise joins us only
by hands. Your left foot’s stutter
echoes my right’s, second hesitations on
third steps into hands and eyes
of electric witnesses:


the lampshaded Bedouin
of a child’s folklore prayer, boxfan
shoulders of dimmer voices or brighter,
television tuned to The Obsolescence Channel,
unblinking vows composed by the magnets’
friend, the stainless desklamp stonewalling
housefires
behind paper glass.
They and we
share hollow hearts, full voices, stranded
together with wooden cords, membranes
brimming
with copper fingers’ three exclamation points.

Jeff Kilpatrick‘s debut collection, Sucker Punches, is due from Cynren Press in April 2026. He lives near Davenport, Iowa, where he is currently at work on his next manuscript.

One response to “Still Life With My Living Room In Sixty Seconds: Arpeggiated Canon For Cello And Flute In D Minor”

  1. Rita Avatar
    Rita

    This author paints intricate pictures with the use of words both familiar and eclectic. The meaning of some works may, on occasion, require thought beyond first review, but the reward is worthy of the reader’s time.

    Just as adults see the world bright and new when viewed through the eyes of a child, so too does the reader travel roads paved with fresh images created by the skillful use of the author’s deep knowledge of the King’s English.

    Definitely, an intriguing first offering by an equally interesting individual.

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