Mary F. C. Pratt's "Pianos" imagines a town just before dawn, when a quiet group of women slip out of the shadows to uncover pianos standing on street corners. The speaker lists who they are: grandmothers, virgins, students, mothers with babies on their backs. These are ordinary people "working to keep the world alive," and the poem links their work to art in general: poetry, sculpture, opera, dance. Nobody speaks. The act of removing the blue coverings is done in silence, almost like a ritual.
The speaker seems admiring and hopeful. There is a sense of reverence for people who do small, unnoticed work so that culture can exist. The mood is hushed and expectant, like the stillness before a performance. The ending leaves everything unfinished: the pianos are ready, painted and open, but the "great heart" of the town has not yet opened, and no one has started to play. The poem seems to ask the reader to be that someone.