#harmonica
I equate the sound of harmonicas to my father’s love.
Their melancholy melody,
Shrill and somber,
So hauntingly beautiful,
Full of life and agony,
Reminiscent of the strain in his voice.
That sound pulls me tears,
Lulls me to sleep,
Passes on his pain the way he passed on the green of his eyes,
The nuance of his mind,
His taste in music.
The more time that goes by the more I listen to music with harmonicas,
Finally understanding how much that sound can hold.
There are no lyrics that could ever say more,
Speak any louder.
I hope the immortality of the music will replace the mortal love of my father,
The love that withered long before I even existed.
I hope all that he never said,
All the promises he couldn’t keep,
Will float on the notes sung by a harmonica.
Keep the tears and the fights and the absences,
The inspiration for all the ways in which I hope to destroy myself,
At bay,
Locked away in some crevice in my mind that can’t be reached,
Alive only in painful memory,
Nightmares that dissolve to whispers of words I’ll never hear.
Jan 24, 2024
Jan 24, 2024 at 3:49 PM UTC
As with all of the big, great losses
not very much from here forward
is going to be the same
I know it won't
I do want you to applaud
on your way out though
despondently, once again
the harmonica begins to play.
Jun 11, 2020
Jun 11, 2020 at 2:06 PM UTC
When Fabienne plays the harmonica
In that gently abiding way
My head turns ever so slight with memory
And my eyes gleam anew with river sheen
Walking down a path called contentment
I smile, and for a moment stay
Nov 1, 2019
Nov 1, 2019 at 2:18 PM UTC
I'll never talk about what it's not, but I'll tell you what it is
It's the jaw harps sound, clear as spring water in open mouths
It's an echo clear in a budding clearing
And clear enjoyment in the crinkling eyes of a crying wish
And as for my old mentor, his name was Kitten Lips
Because he purrrrrred when he performed on it
Aug 22, 2019
Aug 22, 2019 at 6:48 PM UTC