A Bid for Your Attention

Listen to how the music starts
In your own favorite genres,
How it usually begins
Pianissimo then builds, or

Bang! and then settles in its groove.
It’s rare for any piece to start
Exactly in a middle range.
It needs to get your attention.

This is not the standard wisdom
Of much artistic theory
Explaining the goals of artists,
The teleology of art.

But beyond the Revolution,
The need to draw nearer to God
To express terrible heartbreak,
To cry out against injustice,

Reaffirm ties to ancestors,
Unpack the events of a life,
Of lives, of all of life itself,
To demonstrate beauty, passion,

Friendship, craftwork for craftwork’s sake,
Ideological triumph,
An impossible catalogue,
Lies the craving for attention

And the sense it’s hard to get.
In every human creation
Feel for that little giveaway,
Begging your human attention.