summertime

Summertime is a lonely time, especially when your heart and soul lives nine hundred and seventy miles away.

AWAKE

I heard the saxophone wail
Alone into the silence of the night
And I thought that perhaps
It was the loneliest sound in the world;
And the chimes, they rang
And I sang along, a little
For the oboe well-played
And rich its sighs;
For the piano, when forte
And apassionato, with wild hair,
And the timbre there, the color,
The rosy cheeks of a newborn overtone.

And still, that saxophone sang
And mourned the rain
And that which dies;
Like emotion sung
By choirs wrought from glass
Displayed and known, like old friends.
I felt the warm drip-drop of amber
From the sitar strings
And couldn't sleep,
Not with it pounding in my veins,
And in those fitful dreams I cried,
Wait, love, wait just a little more,
And arpeggiate, love, did you hear it?
And the saxophone hummed a melody
To the tune of the harp
Like a chorus of angels
All silver and brass
And rendered me vulnerable,
Vulnerable,
and elated.

And still the saxophone sings,
And still I think it is
The most beautiful sound in the world.

weather poem II

you are the noonday sun,
and i, the moon at midnight.
we are at the top of the world,
each a light unto our own sphere,
and yet i cannot reach out
and hold you.

new shoes

Yesterday in one of my classes, my prof raised a few very thought-provoking questions.

He first asked the question, "Why are you here, studying music, right now?"

The most generic answer is, of course, that each of us was inspired by music at least once.

He then asked us to recall the defining moment that made us decide to pursue the serious study of music. For many of my fellow students, it was a particularly mind-blowing concert, a certain person, or even a vague realization of the buildup of positive feedback.

For me, it was a single summer afternoon, when I was fifteen. I had been in choir for a few years, but it wasn't until I unexpectedly made it into Madrigals that I realized I had something of an aptitude for music and began to consider studying it and pursuing a career in it. Up until then, I was the art girl of the family, or the lawyer, or the scientist, but never the musician. It's hard, to feel like anything but the "other" daughter, when your older sister is a musical prodigy who's already been at it for years. It's hard for your mother to understand that loving music isn't just a phase, that you're just blooming later because you were so intimidated as a young child that you thought you could just put it on the back burner forever.

It's not that I don't understand why my mother told me that afternoon that she didn't think I had any chance of successfully pursuing music, while my sister did. Actually, I appreciate the fact that she's not some fawning stage-mother, convinced that her over-dressed and under-talented child is the next big Broadway sensation. And it's not that I haven't forgiven her for it -- in fact, I didn't realize, not until I found myself holding back tears in class yesterday morning, three years later, how much her words still hurt me.

I realized that everything I have done musically since then has been a reaction against that day. I genuinely love music and have a passion for pursuing it, it's true, but hurt and anger are what have really kept me going. But what's said has been said, and I've forgiven her for it. It's not about her anymore. I know she would feel terrible if she knew how much it affected me then, and how much I still think about it. That's not the point. Although the person who said those words is the reason they were so hurtful, it is the words themselves that still haunt me.

In high school, it manifested itself in my being competitive, wanting everything for myself without actually wanting it. I would get bitchy when someone else got some big part or impressive solo, how they didn't deserve it, and yet it was never about them. If you thought I was mean in high school, you're probably right. But I'm not a competitive person at all. I don't really even like performing. Fighting for roles and solos and awards was just how I tried to defend myself, as if I was in this absurd uphill battle of constantly fighting for my mother's respect, for her approval, in this part of my life that I loved so much. It was as if everything I didn't attain was one more bullet, shooting me down, proving her right, and I wanted more than anything to hear her say, "I'm proud of you," the way she said it to my sister.

The people I avoided, even deprecated, often did nothing to deserve it, and the relationships I ruined by being so rude over such little, insignificant things were just collateral damage from this petty war. And yet, the person who suffered the most damage is myself. Isn't it funny, how a pitiful lack of confidence can look like conceitedness to everyone else? And even more ironic is how I tried to convince myself through all of this that I didn't have to prove anything. I needed a major attitude adjustment, and I knew it, even then. But ah! c'est la vie.

Back to yesterday, my prof then asked us to approximate what percentage of our lives we spend feeling inspired. I thought too fast and said about half. That was a gross overestimate. I'd have to say it's more like 2%. Which leads me, of course, to wonder, why so little? I can safely say, beyond any reasonable doubt, that I love music, and that it inspires me, and that I want to be inspired in everything, all the time. I want to live my days with passion, with conviction. It is in me, and I feel it, some of the time. I think I have finally realized that the stumbling block, for me, is a weird mix of reckless ambition and lazy apathy. Perhaps it's because so far, I've been approaching my studies from the wrong perspective.

If my life as a musician has simply been a reaction against my mother's hurtful words, if everything I have done is simply to break even with the negative, how do I take myself to the next level? The hurt has propelled me this far, but how do I plunge forward into the green? Because the fact of the matter is, at this point, I am a mediocre musician. I have failed to put in the time it takes to really, really understand music, not just in my head, but with my hands. Time and time again, I have failed to dedicate myself fully to what I am doing. All too often, I have turned music into a mechanical process to master academically, as if art can be confined to rules, and at the same time discrediting those like me, such as Fux, who took a similar approach. I have taken my heart out of it. Often, I have not even followed through academically. I have gotten all the right grades, I suppose, but how much have I really benefited? I always laud and envy those musicians who commit themselves fully and put in the necessary time to get really good, and yet I fail to apply their example. I know I could be so much better than I am, but frankly, I've been lazy.

This is not, and has never been, what I want for myself, and I am ashamed for it. I want to be inspired. In an entry I wrote last fall, I proudly declared, "I will never live in shades of grey." So far, I think I have failed. I thank God that there is always another chance to clean the slate and start over. And if I really can choose to be inspired, as easily as I choose what new shoes to put on in the morning, I hope God will give me the strength to grasp it wholeheartedly, to soften those hard and calcified places of myself. From this day forward, I want to leave behind complacency and hurt, and never look back.

Here's to a fresh start, and to a new pair of shoes.

ah, the days

Ah, the days! we'll twirl on our fingers
And oh, the ways! we'll spend our time
Laughing in summer
And loving in winter
And loafing about in autumn
And living for the life of the spring,
And everything in-between.

Life is our own melody
To play by ear
And make up as we go.

a poem for love

I swallowed the sunrise and made it my own,
Lassoed it well and bundled it up
With blue paper and a matching satin ribbon
For to give it to you, with love.

I wandered once along the shore
And kicked at seashell men,
Just fine; but they were all the same,
And in the end, were lacking.
But now, o love, my greatest wish
Is simply to hear the flutt'rings of the ocean
In the graceful ebb and flow
Of the beatings of your heart.

Love, o love, we are victorious!
We have deciphered the unbreakable hieroglyphic
And taught butterflies to dance a samba.
We have conquered the cosmos,
And are now its happy king and queen.
Shall we dance on the moon?
Shall we waltz on Io? Poor thing, but
Gadflies ne'er would sting our feet,
Because we are their masters now.
I will make you pancakes on Neptune,
And we will loafe all day on Jupiter.
Perhaps we will play cards on Mercury,
And fall asleep on Venus.

I put the sunrise in your eyes,
And now I only see its light,
Only in their earth.

your mom

A small thought:

Your mom may be a lot of things,
But your mom is not an insult.