Category: music

was hurrying on my way to something. still, i took a breath to stand still and listen to the sound of saxophone as it wrapped itself around me.

it was slow, aching, craving- the type of jazz reserved for the moments between dead-of-night and almost-dawn when the syncopation of bodies match that sort of rhythm.

it felt naked and blooming and vulnerable when stretched out in noontime sunlight.

so bloom, baby, bloom.

I know I am but summer to your heart, and not the full four seasons of the year.

– Edna St. Vincent Millay

but oh what a summer i can promise.

the most human of instruments

As I stepped off the escalator underground, I heard lone notes of Vivaldi echoing toward me and I wove with urgency through the mid-morning crowd to find him.

There was quite a crowd listening already. He caught and held my eyes with his. As my train clattered its arrival behind him, his violin transitioned and belted out the first notes of Le Pera and Gardel’s famous tango, Por Una Cabeza.

With grateful tears threatening my eyes again, I mouthed an emotional “thank you” as I crossed toward him on the platform. He smiled and bowed his head towards me as I relived dancing along the Seine.

Little daily miracles.

Scheherazade

today ended up euphoric, somehow. despite the intensity of the first 9 hours of the day that were filled with endless exposure to small-talking strangers. (not a misanthropic comment, just signs of introversion).

night closed with the music of one of the most amazing and emotional performers i’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing live (this was the 4th concert of hers that i’ve attended) accompanied by a fascinating bottle of champagne at one of Manhattan’s only fully-operational wineries.

i felt a swelling love again for this city’s rollercoaster rides.

something she said as an interlude stayed with me-

that many of her musician friends have surpassed her in fame, but many of these famous friends receive an audience who come out to hear only one “hit” of theirs.

meanwhile, her own fans (including myself) will undoubtably shout out an array of song requests, and almost everyone is requesting a different favorite. her poetry has reached deeply, and maybe not always as broadly- this is exactly what i hope for in my life and writing. every song of hers crushed me as if it were the sea.

***

i’m fading to sleep, but i will break my rule of not writing while in this half-awake state. on a final whim I looked up something that had been eating away at me. the Wikipedia entry for Scheherazade rocked me like an earthquake.

I’ve quoted Richard Siken before, and last night during my Louise Glück binge I also re-read this. I haven’t stopped thinking about it.

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***

goodnight, new york, new york, goodnight.