I am listening to Johnny Cash,
again. I was listening to
Jesse Wells, Sierra Hull,
Ren before that. I seem
to listen again and again
to old music and then, restless
for new sounds, change it up
and find new music to hear,

and it all feels like one washes
over another, one hand cleansing
then the other. It all feels
the same to me; the same
essential thing.

I can almost
hear the changes before they
come — the lift from a sole guitar,
the fall from heights of a lyric
to a lilt, then a close.

I can almost hear them
but not quite. Waiting
for the moment I can
hear them perfectly, and
not in my mind’s ear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
onward,
T