Poem of a November Morning

Friends:

A poem for this day.

I listened to a lot of music today. It calmed me and kept my brain occupied. It was tricky to find the right vibe, because what is the right vibe for a day like today? Sort of funereal? Spiritually uplifting? Pissed off and bewildered? Well, here’s some music that helped, all mixed down into one long track. A mixtape, like. You just have to listen to it all the way through. I haven’t created a streaming playlist of this, these are all just records I played in my studio at home. If someone wants to make a playlist, I can put it here.

Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda “Om Rama”

Sly & The Family Stone “Poet”

Bessie Jones & Georgia Sea Island Singers “Sheep, Sheep, Don't You Know the Road”

Heavenly Dreamers “On the Battlefield”

Abbey Lincoln “Let Up”

Khan Jamal “Inner Peace”

The Grateful Dead “Dark Star”

Kelly McFarling “Skeletons”

Crosby & Nash “The Wall Song”

Caetano Veloso “A Little More Blue”

Merope “Oi Toli”

Fugazi “Nice New Outfit”

Miles Davis “Sivad”

Tapper Zukie “Man Ah Warrior”

White Magic “Palm and Wine”

The Impressions “We're Rolling On”

Laraaji “Kalimba-2”

EDIT: A subscriber named CA did create a streaming playlist. Thank you, CA! I still think listening to one long digital mixtape is more fun, but I realize this Spotify playlist is infinitely easier to deal with. Also, listeners to the mixtape version will hear that I only used pieces of certain tunes that appear here in their entirety. C’est la vie!

Hug your people. Grieve. We march on.

MC

AFTER MIDNIGHT

The dark streets are deserted,

With only a drugstore glowing

Softly, like a sleeping body;

With one white, naked bulb

In the back, that shines

On suicides and abortions.

Who lives in these dark houses?

I am suddenly aware

I might live here myself.

The garage man returns

And puts the change in my hand,

Counting the singles carefully.

-Louis Simpson