“Mozart Visits Rib Mountain”

By Annette Langlois Grunseth

(portfolio site: www.annettegrunseth.com )

 

We ride the chairlift together,

I never skied with Mozart before.

Domine eis requiem, he says 

Ah, the requiem! I whisper.

 

We scan ski runs from the top,

Allegro, don’t you think? he says.

I sing a line from the fugue

head down Birch Run, 

a black-diamond trail. Definitely, allegro.

 

In 4/4 rhythm I carve even turns

to the bottom of the hill,

a line of music dances from head to toes,

Mozart drives every turn.

 

We ski again in 4/4 time

as I spray powder into the woods,

he at the end of his run of sixteenth notes

and I finish with perfect parallel turns.

 

We ride up the chair again, music circling us. 

Next, we choose Dusky, a blue-square intermediate, 

perfect for the second movement, 

Adagio, he calls.

 

Wide, graceful turns carve through my hips.

He and I ski until my thighs burn 

with a rush of music and wind,

winter sun sinking orange to the west.

Mozart cries out, Domine eis requiem.