Jorma Kaukonen is 85
he’s picking acoustic with a friend
a Dylan song
I sing along
and it’s a brief beautiful thing
something good on the monotonous scroll
something melancholy too
I find inspiration in melancholy chill
the blue light shines next to Buddha
I plugged it in for mystery glow
my old guitar’s dusty from waiting
but tonight I find the strum
It was Jorma in the video
old man picking
never looking up from his hands
they know their way
I got the D Em G A sad song melody
skip syllable lyrics
something about a river
and morning light
tuned to the key of cliché
I like the sound of water’s flow
my unused voice quiet searching
there’s meaning in the role
of the witness I suppose
Even if I never finish it
the ten minutes of slow strumming
repetition shimmers in my bones
my fingers know the way when I forget
lose the path
they climb they fumble slip they go
Maybe it’s these loose moments
brief suspensions of expectation
redefined imperfection
embracing that
buzz clang chaotic shout
quandom review
reverie fossil
death misery and shame
sustains us through this
travelling spinning flummery
this stumble dance we do
stop time without falling
improvised rhyme
carry on to see where it leads
tomorrow if I’m lucky
if the clouds don’t obscure the moon
and hummingbirds return to shelter
unafraid
I’ll remember how this fledgling
flicker of something whole
made me feel
hold it awhile in sway
one more dance around the sun~
While reading this, I felt the gravity of sound and emotion intertwined rather than separated; the idea of “sad songs” came through as something that shapes the space around it rather than merely describing a feeling.
The way voice and sorrow are paired on the page made me notice how closely listening can be tied to memory and longing, as though each phrase carried an echo of its own.
By the end, I found myself attentive not to sadness as a concept but to the way sound can hold a quiet ache that invites closer listening rather than distancing.
Hello, and thank you for reading and responding to this piece. It’s a rarity to receive any kind of written response to anything I’ve posted onsite so I’m truly grateful. The clarity with which you describe your experience of reading the piece is a gift for me. I’m so glad to know it resonated with you.
Namaste, M.