My Guitar

it broke the day before I needed it

as if on purpose

mystic Hungarian folk guitar echoing in the chambers of my mind

when I bought it

never changed the strings in the past 6 years

didn't bother to learn how

the seal of the Classical Guitar Society on the wood

like a diploma

my guitar, better educated than me

$300 collecting dust in the corner

now that the string has untangled itself and let loose

like a curly hair

mangling the neat straight lines of its neighbors

and the orderly rows of the frets like

bricks in Victorian houses

now that the broken wire has splayed itself over the whole body

like a fresh tattoo down a spine

I find my guitar more interesting

and realize I've always liked double bass

better