Today’s challenge was “to write a poem that involves music at a ceremony or event of some kind.” Click (NaPoWriMo) for all the details about the Day 28 prompt. Only two more days of the poem-a-day challenge and National Poetry Month!
And here’s my offering for the Day 28 challenge about music at a ceremony. In this case, my own experiences playing music for weddings!
Music for Weddings in the Wild
These lovers with their visions!
They dream up weddings on the beach,
weddings in the meadow,
weddings on the river—but
mother nature is filled with surprises!
The pastor inhaled a gnat & she choked
on the vows one May evening on the shore
at sundown. Repellent saturated netting
draped the brim of my straw hat. Still,
I resisted inhaling deeply before
a long passage though Mendelsohn had imagined it
played with fluidity, though my notation
on the music said “breathe!”
Guests from Wisconsin swatted, squirmed, &
prayed for a breeze from the shore,
but none forthcoming as the Atlantic
lapped the sand like water on the edge of a
docile pond. Another dream wedding
of a different surprise. Guest chairs
faced west on a hot afternoon
in a grassy field. All held back
from folding chairs in a row that
beckoned to them but the flutist! I played
to the hot orange sinking sun—hoping
the piper piping would bring them
to their seats, and it would be time
for champagne!
Jacquelyn Markham © 2025 (Day 28)
Poet Voice 