I Can’t Trill
I realized I could not trill (O shame)
When the first Ruffles commercials
Came on TV – “Rrrruffles have rrridges”.
I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t trill.
No biggie. Fuck Ruffles anyway.
Later, as I sat in Russian Language school:
Native Russian teachers, underpaid, but proud.
Eyes down long noses looked at me.
Neudachnik: Loser. No music.
Russian flat as the vast frigid steppes.
I won’t bring up German, though in Spanish,
If you don’t trill, “but” is the same as “dog”.
Elegant Spanish flat as a tortilla.
Luckily, for ears, I never took opera.
Thanks, no trills for me, I’m from Tennessee.
