voice

One of the sweet secrets of our country
is that there are so many French-Canadians
with Scottish and Irish surnames.
Kate McGarrigle and her sister Anna
blended their harmonies as naturally as
bilingual-Celtic butterflies
might explore an outdoor kitchen.
Occasionally seeing Anna browsing
the aisles of our local grocery store
is as natural as grooving to a McGarrigle CD
on the way home. Their music
and Martha’s and Rufus’s is part of
what we feel when we feel about our lives.
Now Kate is gone, and the music changes.
Each note, each harmony, carries with it
an edge that is a little sharper,
ineffably more true: a sweet public secret.