Don’t Wear Your Damage As Blame

Don’t wear your damage
As blame
But as a life lived
Too close to the sun
Exhibit your pain like art
Let no two joys be the same

Gene G. McLaughlin 2014

The Hill

I haven’t a clue what went down at Calvary

Centuries ago

You can put the things in a giant endless box

That I don’t know

I do know much of narratives

The stories we tell ourselves

There are true things in stories

That we create for ourselves

If you tell me Romans might have feared

What they didn’t understand

If you tell me Judas might have betrayed

Someone he loved and respected as man

If you tell me that 3 men were crucified

On crosses plunged deep into the land

If you tell me those that had love for them cried

As the the blood dripped from their nail struck hands

I’d believe you for the most part

I know these stories to be mostly true

I’d believe you at least in part

Because from experience these thing are true to you

People have ever been sacrificed

People have ever been betrayed

Maybe one was named Jesus Christ

Maybe he died today

No narrative sustains

That isn’t one that compels

No stories remain over centuries

That aren’t written in our cells

I’m somber not from a leap of faith

That is not my road

I’m somber for the parts I know are true

Those lying deep within our code

Sacrifice, love, and loss

Things which are often represented

By a lonely hill once bearing a cross

Which many hold when their sins are repented

Gene G. McLaughlin 2014

Ecosystem

There are dragonflies

In my earliest memories

There are no clever thoughts

No grand ambitions

Only their loud hum

In the heat of summer

The taste of sweat

Upon my tongue

The feel of damp

On my neck

The river is near

Giving and taking

Sleeping then waking

Frothy then serene

The mountain is near

Giving not taking

Bending and breaking

Its peak still unseen

There is my mother

Provider of food and love

There is my father

Before me and not above

We are of here

This valley

This land

We are from here

Our family

Our band

All I know

Is nearby

Or at least as

The bird flies

The river knew my name

When I was baptized in it

The mountain knew my name

When I walked upon it

I became of here

In my crib

As the wind blew

Through it

I cannot forget

The hum

Of horseflies

Nor the pain

Of their bite

Nor the pull

Of the river's current

It's inhuman might

It all escalates outward

It all internalizes inward

The river takes me elsewhere

The mountain fades from view

When I am motionless

I can hear the dragonflies

Humming there still

When I am motionless

The river carries me there

Once again

The mountain's peak

Still out of view

Gene G. McLaughlin 2014

So Much of Spring Is Faith

So much of spring is faith

A red flower

We were not certain

Would bloom again

Alive once more

It is the unknowns

That winter creates

Which give birth to wonder

Gene G. McLaughlin 2014

The Heart Will Beat Till It Don’t v2

The sun will burn till it doesn't

The heart will beat till it don’t

Worry is a thing I wouldn't

Do because I won't

Manage the details and aspects

Of that I cannot control

So I’ll let the world sort through it’s cycles

And ease the burden and toll

Of the weight that builds up sometimes

At the base of my neck and my spine

I'll listen to the wind, rain, and earth’s hum

And my thoughts will become once again mine

Gene G. McLaughlin 2014

When Spring Overwhelms Me

The rain the sun

The bud the pollen

The flower the leaf

The fruit the seed

Spring undeniable

Again in its glory

Winter’s toll taken

The fallen both recalled

And unremembered

Now is the time of

The unencumbered

And new responsibility

Awakening comes slow

Then sudden

Like the flood of the

Mountain stream

White and cold with

Anger and breakneck

Speed, ice no longer

Controlling and slowing

Its pace, What did I

Believe yesterday?

It seems so distant

I am who I was, but

There is the reckoning

That maybe I was wrong

Believing the cycle broken

And the world to be colder

Than it once was

Winter is nothing if not

A capable illusionist

Claiming things broken and

The cycle ceased

Yet it comes again

The rain

The sun

The bud

The pollen

The flower

The leaf

The fruit

The seed

Unbroken

Just in time

Overwhelming me

Gene G. McLaughlin 2014

Live Music Thoughts – Kishi Bashi with Tall Tall Trees – The Grey Eagle – Asheville, NC – 04/01/2014

In my mind Andrew Bird, Owen Pallet, and Kishi Bashi are linked.  They all have different strengths and techniques, but they are all play the violin and sing lead vocals for material they write.  Of the three of them Kishi Bashi is probably the farthest away from the what people think of when they think of a violin vocalist.  While Owen Pallet tends toward the orchestral and Andrew Bird tends toward chamber coffee house pop; Kishi Bashi comes in as a unique combination of pop, rock, progressive, and hip hop.  When listing to him live you hear the music he has been influenced from and it is everything from Yes to Kid and Play.  His band is tight and Tall Tall Trees who is a member of Kishi Bashi had an excellent opening set of folk punk banjo loop music with his custom made ‘banjotron’.  As a live performer Kishi Bashi has obvious strengths like being as seasoned violinist and capable vocalist, but the best thing about his live performances is their sincerity.  He sells the joy and sorrow of his songs and I believe it is because of a passion for his material.  It was a good sign that even thought his concert ran about an hour and a half not counting the opening act people still seemed to want more when it ended.  He is going to have a new album released in May and it sounds like it maybe have a pop hit or two to rival the excellent single Bright Whites for a few years ago.  I look forward the new album and seeing him again on his next tour.

Sitter In The Vineyards

His heart is not stone

But metal

He is of man

Not man

Among the grapes he sits

Fragile

Every dying

He does not smile

He merely is.

Gene G. McLaughlin 2014

That Which Was

Linked in my mind

Through the hazy smoke of years

Burned by

Without me noticing



In the record store

They once again look at me

From the dusty bins

Side by side



Their world

That which was

Seems impossible

As today will seem

In 50 years



Gene G. McLaughlin 2014

The Equanimity of Waterfalls

The waterfall knows no equanimity

In early spring it rages

From the remnants of melting snow

In fall it is bone dry

Depleted

From the heat of the scorching summer

In winter it is still

The water cold and iced upon its rocks

The effort is

Throughout the seasons

To keep the waterfall in your mind

From early summer

When it is steady

Calm

Flowing

The water will escape its state

It always does

As will you

The effort is holding

Equanimity in your mind

When late spring is gone

And the water is a storm

Or drought

Gene G. McLaughlin 2014