Clair de Lune

On a bright summer’s day in Cologne,
the leaves infused with rays of sunlight
on a tree-lined street, and quite alone,
I was delighted to hear moonlight
tumbling from the strings of a guitar.
I lingered by an open window, listening
to blue notes above the hum of cars,
caught in a dream, like glimpsing
a crescent moon through cloud.
I leaned against the wall to listen
to the crescendo that was loud
enough to shimmer luminescent,
and then was lost in the bass and treble of strings.
The music stopped. I heard a voice say,
“It’s Debussy”, and I found myself smiling
on a city street in the stark light of day.

Kim M. Russell, 16th April 2025

On the sixteenth day of NaPoWriMo, the daily resource is the Museum of Photographic Art, part of the San Diego Museum of Art, and the optional prompt is a further twist on the Kay-Ryan-inspired prompt inspired by inspiration sounds of the natural world.

Our example poem is ‘Fauré’s Second Piano Quartet’ by James Schuyler. “Like Kay Ryan’s poem, this one invites us to imagine music in the context of a place, but more along the lines of a soundtrack laid on top of the location, rather than just natural sounds.”

Our challenge is to write a poem that “similarly imposes a particular song on a place. Describe the interaction between the place and the music using references to a plant and, if possible, incorporate a quotation – bonus points for using a piece of everyday, overheard language.”

My poem is inspired by something that happened to me more than forty-five years ago.

Also linked to the dVerse Poets Pub Open Link Night on 19th June 2025.

58 thoughts on “Clair de Lune”

  5. Kim, this is beautiful! What a lovely, vivid memory.😍 My favorite lines here are: “I was delighted to hear moonlight / tumbling from the strings of a guitar.” And I really enjoyed this rendition of Debussy’s Clair de Lune (never heard it on the guitar before).

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    2. Thank you, LuAnne. It was where I used to live near Rudolfplatz, and whoever was playing the guitar was fantastic. I often used to hear someone playing piano, too. It was, however, a very long time ago.

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  10. Absolutely beautiful. You take me there….and I am listening intently through your words. The descriptive words for the music are stunning:”I was delighted to hear moonlighttumbling from the strings of a guitar.”and”istento the crescendo that was loudenough to shimmer luminescent,and then was lost in the bass and treble of strings.”

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  12. How beautiful to “hear the moonlight tumbling from the strings of a guitar. I lingered by an open window, listening to blue notes above the hum of cars, caught in a dream, like glimpsing a crescent moon through cloud.”

    Stunning writing. I can hear the music playing in my head.

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  13. I love the way that an event in 1980 – the hearing of this music – is recalled and folded into the foliage, the noonday sunshine, the harmonies, and the spoken word – as required by the complex prompt.

    Evocative!

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  16. Such craft in catching the sound of those plucked notes — “moonlight,” “blue notes,” of a “dream,” “a crescent moon through cloud,” a “shimmer luminescent”: Such painterly touches of a music inspired by a poem. Dee-lightful.

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