word of the day: memory 

          she remembers those strings of failure —

crooked arms, clumsy fingers, broken melodies like a screeching cat.

her siblings chuckled, while adults kept straight faces.

"why can't i play like Paganini?!" she demanded. she was ten.

          ...all those warm-ups before sunrise, cycles of rehearsals,

towers of sheet music leaning with threats of collapse —

such drizzles of distant memories, sprinkled recall...

          now she takes the stage and bows to thunderous applause.