A Duet
By Kevin McFadden
Art was long.
Paul was short.
Art sang the song.
Paul was the sort
who made one up
as if from air.
Paul had more gift.
Art had more hair—
which isn’t to take
away from Arts.
Many sing well
if someone starts,
and it robs no Simon
to get paid like Paul.
Along was Art’s way
to be singing at all.
If Paul robbed some,
it’s harder revealing.
What stuck in his mind,
he stuck to concealing
so koo-koo-ka-choo
would stick in our heads.
It wasn’t Garfunkel,
someone said Simon said
when they parted acts.
Debts one forgets.
Acoustic is fraught
with strings over frets,
taken together,
taken apart.
Paul lifting from life.
Life lifting from Art.
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Found via the Poetry Foundation’s nifty app. As I searched it for music poems, I was reminded that a few years back at WGBH, we made a Poetry Everywhere app, still available and still free, as well as a web site with videos for the general public and resources for students and teachers. (It is like me not to remember this until day 22 of my poetry month!)
A Few Reasonable Words 