Where the Music Comes From

A Poem by Jose Oseguera

A Selection from This House is Only a Nest by Jose Oseguera (Wayfarer Books 2024) | Bookstore»

From Wayfarer Magazine, Issue 42»

        —for Luna

“She moved when I was playing guitar,”
my wife said, her palm flat on the copper strings.
As the life within her rippled beneath her rounded flesh,
I saw how our daughter interpreted the strange sounds
piercing through layers of muscle, fat
and water as melody—
music to be alive to.

I took the guitar from my wife
and plucked a melody from its body,
and I saw how my son slid his hand
into the hole past the vibrations,
the sound, the darkness,
unafraid of what might live in its depths.
He scratched the inner surface and smiled,
relieved to have finally discovered
where the music comes from.

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Jose Oseguera (he/him) is the author of the poetry collection The Milk of Your Blood (Kelsay Books). His poems have appeared in Chautauqua, Sonora Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Catamaran and elsewhere. He was named one of the Sixty Four Best Poets of 2019 by the Black Mountain Press. He was the recipient of the Nancy Dew Taylor Award in 2019 and placed 2nd in the 2020 Hal Prize Contest. His writing has been nominated for the Best of the Net award (2018, twice in 2019) as well as the Pushcart (2018—2020) and Foreword (2020) Prizes. His latest collection, This House is Only a Nest (Wayfarer Books 2024), is now available.