Through my life I’ve collected voices
maybe twice a decade a new singer comes to me
and I can’t let it pass by
without holding tight
Through the years certain songs
seem magnetic, somehow
whole albums written in a style I know too well
for it to be coincidence
and I have to hold it close
When Joni sings of ‘skating away’
something jumped out of the speakers
and Leonard says a ‘highway curls up like smoke’
those lines leap out of my headphones
Georgie’s story and the way Rod tells it
grabs me by the lapels
Don’s road trip to the levy
those lines are etched beneath my skin
My mother, my mother played these songs to me
before I even took a breath
my mother, my mother played me these songs
before I ever took a breath
Songs from the womb
songs from before
come back and find me again…
[2019]
Thanks for reading.
The Lighthouse 