Photograph of Frederic Rzewski by Eleonore Schönmaier (2012)
Nocturnes
during
winter months
of insomnia
Frederic inks
three nocturnes
hoping sleep will
reach him like a gift
dropped through
the mail slot
like a feather
fallen from a
blue wing, like the
memory of the sunset
slipping through
the late evening blinds
like the midnight
train where the two single
men, the couple,
the family with children
all have their
eyes shut, a few soft
snores and Frederic
with his head
against the window
also falls away
from the world
as he hurtles
toward a destination
whose address he
often fails to find
From Dust Blown Side of the Journey (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2017)
“[Frederic Rzewski] has, for decades, been making thought-provoking, heart-wrenching music about issues that dominate the headlines today: the perils of incarceration, the tension between the government and the governed, the struggle for gay rights, the decimation of the industrial working class…Mr. Rzewski practices the progressive ideas he preaches, making his scores available online and encouraging, rather than blocking, the dissemination of his recordings on YouTube. He remains, he says, a revolutionary optimist. Asked if it’s possible actually to affect politics through music, Mr. Rzewski answered, “Probably not,” before adding, with a wry smile: “But you have to write as if you could. You can’t be sure. You might.”—Zachary Woolfe
