Antonio de Torres Jurado (1817-1892), Spanish guitar maker
Torres’ secret was
soundboard, made
like a corset: cypress
struts that narrowed
at the waist. After
his wife was buried
in pine, he locked
all doors but
one—landing’s
lead-up to roof,
where cut spruce
aged from bone
to honey. Window
was frame for sea’s
dull sawing, while
his good ear kept
time in waves. At noon
he called the boy,
taught him to slit
the sanded neck,
to hold a needle
still enough for rosette’s
slow ticking. Herringbone,
he showed him, is hardest
on old hands, for
only a precise grip
of dark veneer
can lay down
this ring, sign
without sound.
Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers is the author of two poetry collections, The Tilt Torn Away from the Seasons (Acre Books, 2020) and Chord Box (University of Arkansas Press, 2013), as well as Miss Southeast: Essays (Northwestern University Press, 2024). Her work has appeared in Poetry, Guernica, AGNI, The Missouri Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, Asheville Poetry Review, Comstock Review, Chautauqua Literary Journal, StorySouth, Poetry Daily, The Best American Travel Writing, and elsewhere. A former Kenyon Review Fellow, she is assistant professor of creative writing at Oberlin College, where she leads the Writers in the Schools Program. She lives in Oberlin with her wife and two children. (updated 10/2024)