If any of you have ever read Alice in Wonderland, you will feel right at home in this poem by Ronald Percuoco. It is from his debut book of poetry The Sun Burned Bright and Hot. It tells the story of a young man who falls asleep listening to a Beethoven symphony after he has taken a rather large dose of LSD. He falls through the lines in the staff and almost gets hit in the head by bass and treble clefs.
He falls down a spiral staircase and hears Beethoven’s fifth symphony back-wards. Three E flats and a G instead of the reverse. Beethoven’s fifth became Beethoven’s ninth. The Marriage of Figaro became The Divorce of Figaro.
“Light My Fire” smashed into “Eleanor Rigby”. The Rolling Stones slammed into Fred Flintstone. Steppen-wolf morphed into Steppen-goat.
All around him, he heard music being played. “Everywhere was a song and a celebration.” Symphonies, Concertos, Soul Music and Jazz. Orchestras, Rock
Bands, Trios and Quartets. Artists sizzled, both those alive and dead. Heavenly angels wore tie-dyed robes. It was a looking glass Woodstock.
“A mystic crystal revelation”
Then without warning, he was flying upwards and back. Figaro got remarried. Robbie Krieger was playing “Eleanor Rigby”. He was falling up the spiral staircase now. Three G ‘s and an E flat. Bass and treble clefs nearly hit him in the head. He was flying faster and higher when he bumped his head on the roof of the oh so black quarter note.
Finally, he crawled through the lines of the staff when to his surprise he awoke with a laugh. Beethoven’s symphony had just come to a close. Was it all real or did he just doze?
Ronnie in Musicland and the whole collection of Percuoco’s poems can be found in The Sun Burned Bright and Hot. Now available on the author’s website and on Amazon.
