Piano Fingers
“She has piano fingers-
long, skinny-
like the black keys.
She should take lessons.
Both of the girls should.”
Off to Mr. Placko
every Wednesday.
I sat.
Helen played,
learned to read,
progressed to head nods.
I liked the rests the best,
played by
ear,
by memory,
by golly.
Mr. Placko, the ruler of the Steinway,
had a stern way with 12” of flatwood.
The stinging of knuckles supposedly sent nerve
responses to synapses which
controlled rote notes.
I hated Mr. Placko.
I liked his gingko tree though.
It was outside,
protected by borders
of city sidewalk.
—Marilyn Windau, Sheboygan Falls, WI
was nurtured on Big Bend farms, in raspberry patches in Fremont, by blue gills from Green Lake and books in Madison. Graduating from UW- Madison, she married a civil engineer from Wauwatosa and raised three daughters in Appleton and Sheboygan Falls. She teaches art to elementary school children in Oostburg.