“On the walk home redwings shrill as you hum the “Bogoró ditse” (sixth movement, “Rejoice, O Virgin”), which starts in a slow, solemn whisper and then soars into an exalted alto duet. You would love to sing that duet, but Fred will recruit professionals. You altos joke that Rachmaninoff must have had an alto mistress, because the Vespers gives all the gorgeous melodies to them. The sopranos, who normally get all the gorgeous melodies, joke that they don’t mind being your accessories, but they do.
You tie your raincoat around your waist. The sticky things pull, which makes you hunch over, which makes you think about old age. A rare sunny day in a birdy wetland—at least you’ll be able to do this when you’re old. You think, I suppose it’s time to think about death.
And that’s enough of that.”
Enjoy this audio recording of “It’s Out of Your Hands” by Patricia Canright Smith from Vol. 35:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy your copy here!
Patricia Canright Smith is a writer living outside Seattle, WA, a retired psychotherapist with advanced degrees in psychology and art. Her work has been published in Shenandoah, Quiddity, North Dakota Quarterly, Catamaran Literary Journal, and others. Recently she’s been collaborating with Paul Finley, a jazz musician, to create duets, prose, and piano. An excerpt from “It’s Out of Your Hands” has been set to music and is available at www.proseandpiano.com.
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