There is an amazing amount of talent out there in the world.
Much of it is never heard or seen beyond the living rooms or local communities.
This is particularly obvious when we see the almost endless resources that the
various “reality television shows” are able to draw upon.
I confess to have a certain fascination with watching the
broad cross-section of singers that appear on shows like American Idol and The
Voice. Many of these appearances are available on You Tube and so it is possible to watch performances not
just from the United States but from Europe, Australia and all around the
world.
The odds of winning one of these contests are small, but the
winners are not always the best in talent. Much has to do with presentation,
song selection and the preferences of judges, whether they be spectators or an
actual small group of experts.
I particularly enjoy the “battle” type rounds where two
singers participate in a duet. It seems often to bring out the very best in
each of them. It is the modern equivalent of the fights to the death in the
coliseums of ancient Rome. Each singer knows that they must put on a great show
and work together even though it may mean the end for one of them.
There is a very fine line between success and failure in all
of these performances, and in the duets we often see the competition rise to a
new level. We are watching these young people walk out on a tightrope over a
vast abyss.
Voices
(copyright 2015, Glenn K. Currie) is a poem I wrote after watching one of these
duets. The energy of their performance was wonderful and I wondered if either
would ever again achieve the kind of level they reached as they walked that
tightrope together, or had they traveled along that fine line to the middle
without a way to return, without looking down.
Glenn K. Currie
Voices
It was a duel by
duet.
Pitch perfect notes
fired
Like shots of
lightning,
Splitting the stage,
Then melding
together.
This incandescent
merger,
Created by purist
chance,
Will soon be ripped
asunder
By raging spectators,
Or jaundiced judges.
But for the moment,
This battle,
This symbolic dance
of death,
Has joined their
souls,
As they feast
On each other’s
talents,
And inhale
Each other’s last
breaths.
No comments:
Post a Comment