The Elliott Carter Car Towing Service
The Elliott Carter Car Towing Service
it was the string quartets, numbers 1 and 4, that got
me through, playing over and over like my wheels
through winter inside this little metal sedan, this warm
chamber of dry ice music. Central Vermont as white as
the composer's 101-year old hair. The highway as glissando,
especially by the Richmond exit. Angular as blown snow across
the windshield, jagged as the tire marks running off into the
median. End of a movement, there.
Here comes Viola, overtaking us on the right, like an
arrogant SUV. And there the cello, an 18-wheeler with
her hazards on, blinking a blizzard rhythm, giving us
something to steer by, a sonic lighthouse, 4X4 strings
tied end-to-end, humming bridges to get us over, over this
weather into the silence
back
at
home.