Amadeus LIVE

LA taxi cab
latin beats thundering beneath
as the sun sets over town
leading to the Hollywood Bowl

it’s late in summer at the amphitheater
this old film feels brand-new
the orchestra readies neath the silver screen
for Amadeus: life of a jealous colleague and conspirator

we’re here
people of the city
gathered again
both audience and orchestra
for Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart
some 300 years
but still we’re here
for that favorite son of Salzburg
body left in a pauper’s grave
one day in Vienna, where today
he’s made a saint
and now I’m sipping wine thousands of miles away
on a balmy evening in Los Angeles, digging
grown men in mock-18th century wigs. As the orchestra plays
—sections at a time—
the Confutatis of Mozart’s Requiem
I can’t see their faces
but I picture those musicians weeping