To sing with friends brings joy to those who hear us But shoulder to shoulder we who give voice have earned the greater gift To stand inside a living body of music connected by sublime resonance
II.The Thrum
Chords reach in to finger my waiting bones sometimes as undulating touch threads of fog with no barriers gently casual hands on shoulders or arms outstretched announcing their intentions patient for response
Other notes roar by on mighty gilt chariots hordes of them racing powerful as lama horns straight to the echo rooms of my open heart until their wake folds me into beauty
I didn’t know I loved the spirit in soil deep under reed marshes connected to it through my bones a vision of roiling life
I didn’t know I loved to sing that song could make me cry joy a quick moment on the backs of notes voices together light to dark
I didn’t know that I loved sense of place color memories until they were gone layered goodbyes in dim sunlight dusty motes on gray air
I didn’t know I still loved touch thought it dried and done but not forgotten only to find a fire so ready lit my blood sang even as I would cry aloud
I didn’t know that I loved words that they would fill every empty place pull me with them words from my eyes words from unheard thought
I didn’t know how much I loved my life sweet along with sharp and hard rushing in over tidal flats escaping just as fast that I could cherish it not just live it
____________________________________________ This list poem came out of a short poetry workshop taught in 2015 by the poet Doug Anderson. We read Things I Didn’t Know I Loved by the Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet, and were prompted to write our own list poem by the same title. This is the revised version.
Stars begin to drop into the growing dark of a clear night sky as I come down the mountain to our woods, the path familiar my feet sure in waning light I went up alone craving you the burn cleared granite comfort warm at sunset, words escaping into the rising drafts as song, wait for me I will be there given time
I need a little more time say a month added to each day For love so that its echoes will remain when I am gone To listen once again to live voices in sustained pianissimo And to capture light the way I see it
Birds perch on the balding arms and bud knobbed fingers of the kitchen door apple tree There is a flashing gleam from the eye of a jay the sun finding unlikely passage My mind blinks in disbelief that such a thing could be My heart knows better and begins to sing
The music stops and echos
shimmer then fade
our voices stilled waiting
for the flood of response
I fall into the silence
all energy given away
to singing’s singular joy
A long goodbye jumps the queue
to sudden extinction
Love lives on the mountain
ashes soaking into moss
his spirit coming back
to say that 40 years were
worth it all in all
and how are things
The chatter quieted
and in its place
a single sound takes shape
One note clearly formed
on endless breath
I find it comes from me
I had been singing all along
and never knew
_________________________________
a prompt from tonight’s writing group with Doug Anderson: endings
all eyes and
single voices
become
this great body
balanced on
a razor thin
tipping point
we sing
full throat
to ecstasy
the music stops
I fall into
the abyss of silence
tears flowing
__________________________________
the moment after the end of a great piece. for Cailin Marcel Manson, who took us there.
to sing with my friends
brings joy to those
who hear us
but shoulder to shoulder
we who give voice
have earned
the greater gift
we stand inside
the living body of music
connected by
sublime resonance
_____________________________
Day 9. A shortling about the gift of singing in a group. Day 9. The words wanted my attention, but not for very long!
There is quiet now
where rich color
had been heard,
deep and sensuous
His turning notes
of fluted california
honky tonk remain
a potent legacy
Rest easy
we will hear
your echo.
_____________________________
day 6 of NaPoWriMo. RIP Merle Haggard, who left us today. Singer, brilliant songwriter, early voice of Bakersfield.
Life With Horace 