after a performance by Awadagin Pratt
He is a left-handed player in a right-handed world
reading charts, away from left and toward the right,
underscored by right-brained, right-handed composers.
Even the baton which conducts is clutched in the right.
He is a left-handed pianist in an underhanded world.
His weak hand tinkles and trills, carries the melody
and most of the harmony, warbles like a wren,
weaves wicked magic, inspires oohs and awe.
Once per bar
his strong hand
chords, counter-
balances melody
for good weight
and measures.
He is a left-handed victim of right-minded churls
who cannot cater or even lean toward the left.
It’s their right, their instruments conceived
by left-brained and tight-minded fingerers.
He is a left-handed rebel who creates a new world.
The tempo he follows leaves him, so far, left out.
Yet lend him a staff and he will eventually pen
a pièce de résistance on his own fugueing chart.