July 22, 2021

Places Where Yo-Yo Ma Has Given A Surprise Concert

by Evan Fleischer

In Piazza San Marco,
with the light of student cigarettes 
blinking from the rooftops like fireflies.

In a Bodega,
his bow merrily stabbing funyuns. 

At CERN, in a vaccine waiting room, 
with Lil’ Buck on the border of two Loredo’s,
drawing maps with music the way the weather draws maps.

Down by the Seine, minutes before dawn,
rolling back the blanket of a cielo descubierto.

Surrounded by an army of android recreations,
Yo-Yo Ma alongside Yo-Yo Ma alongside Yo-Yo Ma,
amused at the prospect of proving himself the real.

The moon,
surrounded by the light of fireflies
who have grown too large for this world 

or any other.