Words, Not Necessarily in Search of Melodies

Yesterday

Words of love words of heartache
Searching for the best way to say
The words I’ve been trying to say
Words that make my knees shake

In the middle of the night when the rains come
And the winds blow strong
When the sum of all my fears make me question
If what I’ve said and done was right or wrong

When the night comes and the winds blow strong
I never wonder if our love is wrong I know it ain’t

+++

I miss being close, the touch of you skin against mine
The touch of your fingers the brush of your arm
You reach across the wide expanse of our bed
I reach too to find your hand
The pleasure of your touch
The soft words of comfort in the night
Tomorrow is another day in the fight
The world awaits our battle
Our words our song

Today

The train is running empty no one is onboard
I ain’t hopping on, ain’t ready to meet the Lord
Too many things to go, places I must go
I’ll just drink a lot of walk and keep walking real slow.

Those are words of living i was heard so many years ago
When Roland Gatlin was a worker I was glad to know
“When things are tough, you might be feeling low,
Just drink a lot of water and just keep walking slow.”

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Late Saturday afternoon, cooking shows are
My wife’s favorite to snooze to is Martha Stewart
I doze too and dream of fish and shrimp smothered
A delectable delight of spices and mushrooms
I can almost imagine tasting
Basting the sauce over cod of bass or filets of perch
Then i awake and remember that I never really like seafood
I’ll eat it, even cook it for guests
I make a mean fish boil it is said
Probably because it is easy
Recipe:
Cut potatoes, Peel onion cut into quarters, Thaw the frozen fish
Boil potatoes, when almost done throw in onions
When onions done throw in fish.
Fish done when white.

Take it out, mash it all together, smother in melted butter.
Eat.

There’s a reason I don’t care for fish.
Frozen fish sticks my mother made almost every Friday
Because that was what Catholics did
Sometimes she made other things
But most those damn fish sticks.

Amazon, Dylan, Ochs, and Interpreting

March 27, Friday

Woke up this morning to a text from The Kid.. He works at Amazon. They had one confirmed case of COVID-19. They are not closing the distribution center. The Dad in me is worried. The Daughter, his sister, is probably worried too. The Wife, who is no longer with us, is probably up there making sure they don’t have any room up there for him.

The Wife 2 won’t let me out of the house except to go for a walk daily. She’s worried, too.

So goes life in America these days of quarantines and stay the fuck home orders.

I kinda wish more governors and mayors would be more forceful in their daily talks. When they had a nice warm day in Chicago, a lot of people flocked to the Lake walkways. The city closed the parks and walkways. The Mayor said something like, “When we said you could take a walk, we meant a short one in your neighborhood.” She should have said, “What the fuck is wrong with you people? It’s simple, one syllable words:STAY HOME!”

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I woke this morning to a Facebook message from my nephew in California. Bob Dylan released a new 17 minute song “Murder Most Foul.” That was a pleasant surprise.

I am not going to attempt to analyze Dylan, as if anybody really could. To summarize, the piece recaps the Kennedy assassination and runs through the historical events of November, 1963 up to mentioning Kennedy’s brothers. Interspersed are other events of the 60s like the Beatles and the mania of their arrival. He also mentions a lot of other singers and songs. It’s interesting.

I must admit that while I was listening I kept thinking of another song about the Kennedy assassination, “Crucifixion” originally written by Phil Ochs. I like this version better than the one Ochs did.

As for analyzing Dylan, I remember something I learned and tried to emulate when I taught English Literature. This is particularly true of Dylan, but applies to almost all literature and music.