The Suzuki method teaches three-year-olds to
play violin, but Brother George Klawitter, CSC,
found it worked just fine for him at 40. Now,
he plays in the St. Edward’s University
String Quartet, along with Professor Ev Lunning.
Brother George likes the cooperative aspect
of the small group, the keen listening required.
A professor of English, he has published seven
books and four collections of his poetry. Comparing
the impulses to create poetry and music, he
said, “I can rise in the middle of the
night to write a sonnet, but I can’t pick
up the violin and play it at 2 a.m. There are
neighbors to consider.” What might keep
Brother George up until 2 a.m.? His New York
chocolate cake, which contains four cups of
cocoa: “One bite and your eyes are dilated
for days.” No wonder the music —
aural and verbal — keeps coming. |
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"Driftwood
and Bone"
He wanted to make things
Out of animal horn and hunks of wood —
Things for coffee tables and corner shelves.
I tried to tell him driftwood belongs
At the side of the lake where it was spawned,
And antlers belong where they fall:
It's a simple rule of gravity.
But no, the artist in him said
The idea is too good to let go.
So he filled his arms with splinters
Washed clean of guilt by the waters
Of Lake Superior, cold, blue and cruel.
The racks took longer to trace.
He settled for two. "A kind of finality,"
He said, "in bone. I'm very fond of bone."
The whittling took weeks,
But he was amused. And then the products grew
On the lawn, in the garage, in the attic.
Ideas never die,
Even when you keep them inside.
Sometimes festering is the best cure for a wound.
Then you know the poison's meaningful.
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