On Copying the Great Master

Copy of a Saul Steinberg

The students' blind drawings to music

remind me of Saul Steinberg's drawings 

of the sounds spilling from musicians:

the thick black brush of the bass,

the flute's trilling ink wash,

the bold bouquet of the trumpet blast,

the cloud of cross hatches rising from the pianist,

the twirling flora spinning from the harp,

the tuba's belch of hefty decoration.

Copy of a Saul Steinberg

I have looked through this Steinberg book so many times and still, 

there are always surprises.

Like the mustached cat sitting stoic by the wine glass.

Or the empty room with the shadow of a seated man embedded in the patterned wall paper.

Or the little town with false fronts of sky scrapers.

And always I am delighted by the people talking,

the adult man's slashing line over the little girl's wandering whimsy.

Copy of a Saul Steinberg