The Alto Takes Her Solo – a poem by Catherine Gonick

The Alto Takes Her Solo
 
At church this cold morning, the choir
sings selections from Handel’s Messiah.
 
With a voice deep as Earth, the bass
sounds like the reason men were created.
 
The strong, far-reaching sopranos sound
closest to God.
 
From my seat near the front I can see
that when it’s the alto’s turn
 
there’s a pause, as she and the conductor
lock eyes in a warm gaze they hold
 
until he makes a move that releases them
and she begins.
 
Recently returned from the country
of the ill, the alto has tinted her hair
 
a subtle but triumphant purple.
Her body, a temple assaulted
 
but not destroyed, still stands
and her singing is not loud but true
 
like the sound of someone praying.

Catherine Gonick has published poetry in a wide range of journals, including Notre Dame Review, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, The Orchards Poetry Journal, and Pedestal. Her work has also appeared in anthologies including in plein air, Grabbed, Support Ukraine, and Rumors, Secrets & Lies: Poems About Pregnancy, Abortion and Choice. She has a collection from Sheila-Na-Gig Editions (spring 2025), and lives in the Hudson Valley with her husband, with whom she works in a company attempting to slow the rate of global warming.