Ricercar (rēCHərˈkär) music composition derived from the verb ricercare*
by Evan Leslie
Since the 16th century, the eccentric Bolognese have spun
their church bells all the way around and up-
side down. Perched high in the San Petronio steeple,
acrobat ringers, risking death, fling ropes, grip
clappers, hurl wood bell yokes down to whip their bronze mouths
up, before they wheel them round to clamor.
Today, in Houston, teenage Gio is practicing cello.
He is learning an ancient “Ricercar,” the oldest cello solo.
Domenico Gabrielli wrote it
and he played it beneath the shrieks of Bologna's pealing bells.
(Gio – Bring your youth. Your wish. Callused fingers. Nostrils
flexed to cool lungs. Tongue and eyelids low. Stare, sizzling.
Sap-dusted tail of Mongolian horse stretched
taut along Brazilwood bow. Spruce and maple,
planed to ring your tungsten- and gold-wound, sheep-gut strings,
and your ignorance, lime green. Secrets. Prayers
...exáudi orátionem meam. Et clamor meus ad te véniat... Time,
marked by failed attempts. Time, indexed with counting breaths:
snickerdoodle, snickerdoodle, snickerdoodle –) Play,
and he’s here. Domenico! Beneath the pealing bells
of San Petronio, his music is
myrrh in the basilica sunlight shafts. His music
is a sermon, pleading: Ricercar! Seek!
You will see more! There is more to see. Hear!
Listen more. You will hear more – there is more
to hear. The world will grow, if you ask it to grow – ask.
World without end – just ask with your ears. Ask
with your blistered toes and heels. Ask with your sweat, doubt, grief,
and fear. Scratch and scratch each blessed itch. Kiss
to taste; taste and share what is revealed: Revel-
ations! Revel-ations! Revel-ations!
Bells toll with the pull of Gio’s cello bow hair.
*(Italian - to seek again)
Evan Leslie grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and now lives in Houston, Texas, with his husband, Ryan, and their rescue pit bull, Rimbaud (formerly Rambo). A cellist and arts educator, he directs the University of Houston’s Community Arts Programs, the Texas Music Festival, and previously served as Artistic Producer at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. His poems have appeared in The Pinch, Troublemaker Firestarter, and New Verse News.
