Nanny’s Organ (Vintage Roxy) (Da Qi)

My grandmother had an electric organ 

In the living room

Of her house

On Wakeman Street

In West Orange, New Jersey.

When I sat on the stool

In front of the instrument

I could look out of the window

And see the giant Weeping Willow tree

That all of her grandchildren

Would monkey-climb on.

The organ itself

Was probably quite

The domestic purchase

At the time

Along with the giant 

Piece of furniture

That was the television.

Perhaps it was a Christmas gift

Some year.

I don’t know.

But

Looking back

I might have to say

It was rather cheap looking.

It was a Roxy.

I’d wager 

That the organ’s cabinet

Was not real wood.

It was mounted

On legs

Of hollow brass tubes

That tapered

To disc feet

With plastic bottoms

Common 

In the late sixties/early seventies.

The single speaker

Also with brass mountings

Was covered in a gold and white

Plastic mesh

Housed in the front-left face

Of the keyboard cabinet.

I don’t recall my Nanny

Ever playing it.

Instead

It became a hiding place

For jelly beans

At Easter...

I can remember

Flicking the switch 

Myself

To turn it on

And watching the red light glow

As an electric hum

Came on

Over the speaker

As the tubes warmed up.

There was a group of buttons 

On the left side

Which were the Major

Minor

And Seventh keys

With about forty keys to the right.

I was a magician

As I sat there 

In the silent moments

Before I started 

Preparing 

For the elaborate tome

That I was about to lay down.

As my fingers

Pressed buttons and keys

I could feel

The electricity tack

Up my arms

Coursing to interstellar

Creative chakras.

Da Qi.

In acuppuncture

It’s called the 

Good Energy.

It’s real electrical currents

Felt when needles

Are placed

In specific critical points

During a session.

This was before 

I had anything 

Like acuppuncture

To compare it to.

And I weaved

And pressed

With urgency.

I lilted

Lifting fingers lightly.

I pressed my whole body

Into the keyboard

And buttons.

A mad scientist.

Creating music

For the end of the world.

I’m sure that it was horrifying

To anyone that heard it.

But in my head

I was a musical genius

Light years

Ahead of his time.

A prodigy.

An idiot savant.

Well before acuppuncture.

Well before 

I would ever hear those words

Or be intelligent

Enough

To understand their meaning.

So

I played on

Riddled with electricity.

Da Qi.