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Open Poetry #36
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icebox
Member Elite
since 2003-05-03
Posts 4383
in the shadows

0 posted 2005-08-06 01:19 AM



Sweet crystalline voice
weaving songs of heartbreak
with shadows of love and redemption,
threads
some bitter some bittersweet
running back through decades to my youth,
tied to brittle thoughts cut with precision,
polished
on the paving stones of life,
I love her voice
and each choice and turn of phrase;
I need this more than I have words to say.

These are long hard days for me;
no,
that’s not a plea for sympathy
it is just my own reality,
like the anodynes and ice water
that may get me through the night,
...like the gunshot
just now echoing from some private firefight,
sounds about a half mile away,
just gang pressure,
some new street capitalist
on the border of my once sleepy little town;
sharp flurries of little sounds,
distracting,
detracting from the poetry floating
in pure harmony
from the speakers beside me;
pissant little popping sounds,
a nine most likely
flashing in the thick night air,
crackling
with the arrogant bravado of the insecure,
...a pause...
followed by a boomer now,
...one...
a twelve making its presence known,
the little nine comes back with chatter,
then...
...two/three...
...another pause...
...four;
someone knows how it’s done.

It is over now;
a mother will cry tonight,
and all I wanted
was to relax,
listen to Emmylou
and with luck,
forget.

©2005 by icebox

© Copyright 2005 icebox - All Rights Reserved
ice
Member Elite
since 2003-05-17
Posts 3404
Pennsylvania
1 posted 2005-08-06 06:28 AM


Indeed a "Sweet crystalline voice"
Has Emmylou...

But she has seen what you saw in this poem, is aware of noises in the night, and the reasons for them....nines and twelves

she "knows how it's done"
and the reason it is...

"Get results, get 'em fast
We're ready if you got the cash
Someone else will be laughin' last
Doin' time in Babyion
So put that conscience on the shelf
Keep the best stuff for yourself
Let the rest fight over what is left
Doin' time in Babyion

(Time in Babylon
Emmylou Harris/Jill Cunniff)

Write on, poet

-------------ice
    ><>

Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354
Listening to every heart
2 posted 2005-08-06 09:55 AM


weaving songs of heartbreak
with shadows of love and redemption,
threads
some bitter some bittersweet
running back through decades to my youth,
tied to brittle thoughts cut with precision,
polished
on the paving stones of life,
I love her voice

~*~

My husband's favorite...
and he too realizes
the need
against the world.

Thank you, icebox

Midnitesun
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Empyrean
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647
Gaia
3 posted 2005-08-06 11:17 AM


Reminding me of nights (and days) when I've tried to listen to Carlos Nakai, or Kitaro, or Keith Jarrett, Vivaldi or Tchaikovsky...or quietly read, only to hear one neighbor's giant TV screaming out heavy bass notes from some stupid 'action' movie...vibrating the adjoining walls of this duplex. Or another neighboring family who spend most of their waking hours screaming at one another, hurling verbal insults. And I remember living where it was gunfire on occasion, and ambulances several times each night screaming past my window. And I still remember the sound of rockets flying over the border when I lived in the Middle East. Even in the boonies of Alaska, I was not able to completely escape stupid fighting humans.
Is it any wonder I enjoy going out to the horse barn, feeding, even grooming an indoor arena on a muggy day, just to be able to gaze at the canopy of stars at night and listen to a cricket's tune, or an owl hooting nearby?
~sigh~ now you got me goin....
  



wranx
Member Elite
since 2002-06-07
Posts 3689
Moved from a shack to a barn
4 posted 2005-08-06 12:54 PM


With luck, yes

Not much I miss about living where I once did...doing what I once did

Even when the winter blows through my shack, I enjoy the absence of the distractions you describe.

There's a Gram Parsons CD
GP/Grievous Angel

Emmylou is a presence on it. I recommend it

Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049
California
5 posted 2005-08-06 06:39 PM


icebox

Sometimes, you just have to turn the music up!  

serenity blaze
Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738

6 posted 2005-08-06 06:45 PM


You amaze me, an observational distance with keen emotional ties, you write real, but not cold.

You simply amaze me lovie.

(and yessssssssssss to emmylou)

Ratleader
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Rara Avis
since 2003-01-23
Posts 7026
Visiting Earth on a Guest Pass
7 posted 2005-08-07 11:49 PM


One, or eighteen -- there's no way to shut them out. All we can try for is not to be taken away by them; in the real, or in the little death of memory.

~~(¸¸¸¸ºº>   ~~(¸¸¸¸ºº>  ~~(¸¸ ¸¸ºº>    ~~~(¸¸ER¸¸ºº>
______________Ratleader______________

BluesSerenade
Member Patricius
since 2001-10-23
Posts 10549
By the Seaside
8 posted 2005-09-04 01:02 AM


These are long hard days for me;
no,
that’s not a plea for sympathy
it is just my own reality,

Thanks, you~
She certainly inspires you nicely.

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