Flute II

When I quit playing the flute,
The summer after my freshman year of college,
I really quit.

I started listening to classical music around then
And realized that flute performance wasn’t
My idea of easy listening.

So I decided I didn’t much like the sound of the flute,
Or the cliché of a slender blonde girl playing the flute
(Don’t they all?), and walked away.

Sixteen years later, my mother told a story.
We were on a houseboat on Lake Powell
And had stopped for the night under a rock overhang,
A natural amphitheater.
I played the flute under the stars, resting on the water,
Surrounded by no one, and my mom thought,
I have arrived.

The next week my sister said,
I would fall asleep listening to you practice
And think, My sister is amazing!
I was surprised when you just gave it up.

Did I know this? If so, I had forgotten.