BLUES THERAPY
She’d had a tough day,
her aging mother struggling
two siblings wounded and worried,
a gray day with snowfall, darkness
early and long
The husband knew what she needed
and when she started on dinner, staving
off decisions for yet another hour, he put
on Bonnie Raitt, you know, the kind of
smokey blues singer that helps a long-haul
trucker through the mountains of Pennsylvania,
off the Allegheny Plateau, across Interstate 90,
and up Route 81, the NAFTA run to Montreal
in the hours after midnight, gears grinding hard
on the endless up-grades, wrestling the heavy
load on the downhill curves and through the
lake-effect squalls, the tires, and the groaning,
and the roaring of the diesel playing dark back-up
music to the righteous redhead with the big
silver streak who carried his wife through
the sad, and the bad, and the good sure
to come
Smokey blues therapy on a February night
The Hunger Moon hopeful!
Winter wearing them down!
what makes the heart feel for something it can't touch?
his tears caused contractions for his heart to pulse
floundered, looking for loves heartache to clutch
whimsical solace of her essence startles his impulse
shouldering the bane of a kiss that foreshadowed trifles
kooky huh? how time unleashes emotions restrained behind pride
losing his beloved inamorata to an admirer she mollycoddles
his heart became friable to the echo of her suicide
It was the absence of a note that left his worries unverified
what makes the heart feel for something it can't touch?
Now alone and without; a lovers heart is mummified
he will never love another as much
the “ghost orchid” has become her epithet
the rules of this game have changed, misère ouverte.
I chose Bonnie Raitt “I can't make you love me” because when I listened to it it brought
back memories of my childhood feeling second to my fathers work. His physical presence was
always their, but his heart belonged to his work and still is. After listening to the song 5 or 6
times I thought of the question, what makes the heart feel for something that it can't
touch----like love, and went from there.
Fred Astaire was king of tap
Biggie Smalls was huge in rap
Carson (Johnny)ruled TV
Dylan’s songs are poetry
Elvis made the girls all swoon
Frank Sinatra loved to croon
Greta Garbo hid from sight
Hitchcock gave us all a fright
Isaac Hayes’ voice dips low
Johnny Depp steals every show
Kenny G can blow that sax
Larry David can’t relax
Michael Jackson changed his face
Norah Jones embodies grace
Oscar Wilde wrote books and plays
Peter Falk had piercing gaze
Quincy Jones finds music stars
Raitt (That's Bonnie) rocks guitars
Sally Field lights up the screen
Tony Kushner nails each scene
Uma Thurman makes men drool
Viggo’s talented and cool
William Shatner’s still around
Xin Xin Xiong in films is found
Yoko Ono married John
Zach Braff’s big on Amazon
All this talent, A to Z
Keeps us entertained, agree?
for Cyndi MacMillan's ABC Couplet contest
Springsteen has his Jersey girls,
But I don’t belong there.
When Bon Jovi takes the stage,
I would just feel wrong there.
Randy Newman’s songs are great
And I love Paul Simon.
Billy Joel does justice to
His lyrics’ perfect rhymin’.
Carole King can nail a tune
And I dig Tom Petty.
If James Taylor is performing,
Get me there – I’m ready.
Yet there’s someone who can cause
My blood to percolate
When she belts a melody –
I’m talkin’ Bonnie Raitt.
Sorta country, kinda rock;
Deep and rich and bluesy.
Every note and word she sings
Is sure to be a doozy.
When I catch her on CD,
The radio or stage,
She still sounds as good to me
As she did half her age.
Keep on groovin’, Bonnie Raitt
And let your music soar;
‘Cause when I hear your magic voice,
I want to hear some more.
For the "What Songwriter Inspires You? contest - Bonnie Raitt
(Refrain)
As the passage nears,
release all of your fears.
Your life is not done;
it has just begun.
Souls are rising up today.
as prophesied for Judgment Day.
The elderly appear as youth
in this journey seeking the truth.
We carry stardust on our toes,
recalling moments time froze
(Refrain)
As the passage nears
Release all of your fears
Life will is not done;
it has just begun
As higher we climb toward the light,
those left below just fade from sight.
To greet all faithful brethren.
a spirit comes and meets all men
(Refrain)
As the passage nears
Release all of your fears
Life will is not done;
it has just begun
*I would like Bonnie Raitt to sing this song. She has such a soulful voice.
Entry for Paula’s “Passages” contest.