Poem: Mountain Music Festival

Mountain Music Festival

Katoomba, New South Wales.

Up here,

a song punctures the air,

a fiddler and a pianist play.

You blend the textures in your mind,

a single exquisite harmony,

till your whole self glows.

You arrange each haunting phrase

around stubborn dark thoughts

and the thoughts lighten.

Soon the days will shorten –

the music deepen –

each mountain season

distinct from the other.

You will ease into it,

mimicking musical notes like a lyrebird.

You will cover your bed with blankets,

knowing the frost will come,

the melody soften,

the town go white.

You will inhabit the music

like a pair of old slippers

and it will comfort you.

Sydney’s Libby Sommer worked in film and TV production at ABC Television for some years prior to starting her own public relations business. Her poetry, short stories and non-fiction have appeared in literary journals and other publications in Australia and overseas. She is also the author of a number of poetry collections, and novels. More about Libby and her writing can be found at her website.

The Blue Mountains Music Festival is a three-day event celebrating folk, roots and blues music, held in March every year in Katoomba in the Blue mountains of New South Wales.

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected]. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.