SURGAM Spring 2011: "The new guitar"

Oops—took a bit of a sabbatical there. My bel ami was in town (la!), so I suppose I was never really far from Phlogging, but maybe not in that way.

"But what's left from the semester?" you might wonder. Actually, nearly all of Surgam. And so for the next few days I'll be regaling you with pieces and art from the Spring 2011 issue, just in case you missed picking up your very own beautiful copy. If you'd like one, however, never fear—we've more in the Halls, probably buried under Korean drums at this point but certainly accessible come September. Without further adieu, Jessica L. Johnson's brief and lovely piece "The new guitar."

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The new guitar

Jessica L. Johnson CC'11

The neck knows my palm. To tune is to find the right vibrations between my thumb, thumb and forefinger, ear. The guitar string is a tightrope my fingers run across. I hang on its body. We’re hollow in the same places at times, though my insides aren’t so well carved out. I, too, am suspiciously held together by small metal screws; want only to be held at my side, wound and strummed, to sound.