NAA ASHELEY ASHITEY





THE TRUE AMERICAN SYMPHONY


I believe there is no need to add lyrics to this instrumental.
Let the trauma be painted more brightly
By Chopin and the works of his disciples.
Yes, my child of 26,
This is in fact what Jonas was hearing
As he decided to run away with that baby.
The true American symphony
is quite a daunting song.
And before you ask,
Even though there may be moments
In which the piano hits an off key,
And the record player seems to be stuck,
not moving onto the next stanza, repeating that singular note,
inciting this hope that will finally be the moment
reality's bells ring and the tune will turn a new chord,
the song will resume.
Maybe not in perfect order.
A few beats were certainly skipped so the sound remains disorienting for a few minutes,
But never longer than fifteen.
And thus, the song continues to accompany
The sound of third graders laughing in excitement
of seeing how effective mechanical sharpeners are,
a fourteen-year-old holding her phone on top of her family laundry hamper
watching a YouTube tutorial on tampon insertion,
and especially after another white crowd decides to turn a Black boy
Into another Black body.






AUTOCORRECT: TWO