“If, and only if you’re lucky enough to get me, I’ll need the biggest stage ever built here.”
“Isn’t this huge enough?” the gate-keeper enquired.
“It’s obvious you know nothing of acoustics, Your Saint-ship. You’ll have to kick at least six of
my best decorators up from hell too.”
“Will it be worth it?”
“Yes! Sorry, but you know very little of show business, Your Guardianship. If you can’t hurry up
the death of my favourite singers alive, then I’ll need three baritone dwarves, two Valkyrie
sopranos, and one centaur tenor who need to be brought from purgatory asap.” Mr W barely
glanced at him.
“Why not take the singers here already?”
“Those from below will be more motivated.”
“What if it isn’t possible?” the gate-keeper frowned.
“Are you really saying NO to the biggest concert ever inspired by yourself?”
“I’ll see what exceptions I can make for once,” the words slipped out of the gate-keeper’s primly
pursed up lips before he could stop them.
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Music can hold enormous power in memories and experiences, transporting us instantly to an age, location, or person. What sonic joys, mysteries, disbelief, and clarity have you experienced? Identify songs of influence in your life and explore them like variations on a theme, melding syntax and song structure, recalling the seriousness or levity that accompanies. Whether it’s an account of when a specific song first entered your life, the process of learning to play a song, teaching someone a song, experiencing the same song in different places as it weaves through your life, unbelievable radio timing, sharing songs with those in need, tracking the passing down of songs, creative song analysis, music as politics, etc, I am interested in those ineffable moments and welcoming submissions of your own variations on a theme, as drawn from your life’s soundtrack. Please email submissions to meganentropy@gmail.com and keep an eye out for others’ Variations.
**(“song” is a broad phrase: could be a pop song, a traditional tune, a symphony, commercial jingles, a hummed lullaby, 2nd grade recorder class horror stories, etc)**
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Sultana Raza’s poems have appeared in 30+ Journals, including Caduceus (Ed. Yale University), Columbia Journal, and The New Verse News. More poems have appeared in The Society of Classical Poetry, Bewildering Stories, spillwords, and The Peacock Journal. Her fiction has received an Honorable Mention in Glimmer Train Review (USA). Recently, a short story, Catch of the Day was published on Coldnoon Journal. Her 100+ articles (on art, film, and humanitarian issues) have appeared in English and French.
