singing beside the falls
the sound of the water
drowns out our voices
but that isn’t any reason
to stop singing
Posts Tagged ‘singing’
One Afternoon with Ulli & Jen
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged friendship, poem, poetry, singing on May 17, 2018| Leave a Comment »
Though We Focus So Much on Finding Our Voice
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged breath, poem, poetry, silence, singing, voice on March 29, 2018| Leave a Comment »
The sound of your breath is the quietest of songs.
—Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening
Maybe on that day
when we think, I forgot
to sing, that’s when we
realize that all day long
we harmonized with the world
in the quietest of songs—
joined in without any effort,
no striving at all,
and maybe that is the day
when we stop trying
to be heard and start
to notice the song
inside every other song,
the song inside every other being,
how perfectly in tune we are,
how easily we join—no conductor,
no notes, no beat, just one perfect
air. Maybe that’s the day we hear
the metronome of our own
steady heart and say to it,
I will trust you, feel the truth
of the song as it slips
from our lips, then
rushes in to fill us again.
Big Love
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged being present, poem, poetry, singing on February 15, 2017| 2 Comments »
Why
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged parenting, poem, poetry, singing on January 7, 2017| 6 Comments »
There are yet words that come near the unsayable,
and, from crumbling stones, a new music
to make a sacred dwelling in a place we cannot own.
—Rainer Maria Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus, Part Two X
Before bed, my daughter asks me
why in school they learn to sing,
I mean, she says, it’s not like that’s
what we’ll do when we grow up.
And part of me longs to answer her
with stories of my own—
how the stone of our losses dissolves
into tune, how we become wave,
become surge, blur with tone,
how song opens up every door
we might close, how it holds us
when nothing and no one else will.
Instead, I tuck the question
under her pillow as she climbs in bed,
hope it finds the trapdoor into her sleep,
hope the unsayable answer will weave itself
into her dreams like a river,
like light in a forest, like a breeze
in July, like a song that finds the lips
again and again and each time makes them new.
Why I Attend Choir Concerts
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged attitude, choir, connection, depression, poem, poetry, singing on December 11, 2016| 1 Comment »
Walking on the muddy path, I try
to convince myself it would be easy
to be happy. I’m not hurt, my family is well,
and the sun is almost out. I tell myself,
look, look how the ice from last night’s storm
clings to the tips of the branches
and, as it melts, see how the whole world
seems to gather in a drop. But there is a snarl
deep within that is snagged in the thorns,
trapped in the ice, intent on locking itself
out of heaven. It scowls at the wind,
at the sound of the traffic, it grimaces
at the story of itself and retells the same
sad story. It is hours later I notice
how easy it is to fall in love with the world—
how it takes no effort, no convincing at all
to weep at the beauty of hundreds of people
singing together, oh the deep melting,
how the whole world gathers in a drop.
Hurry, Hurry
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged love, poem, poetry, singing on October 21, 2016| 1 Comment »
So when we get to the measure
in the Hungarian folksong
where a man begs a boatman
to carry him across the sea
where his lover is waiting,
we decide as a group to sing it hushed,
hushed but urgent, says Jenny,
and we all agree, though when we get
to the phrase, we all forget the hush
and collectively belt out his longing
like a celebration, urgent and vital,
of all the longing that rings the world,
all the ways we yearn to connect, to love,
to stand beneath the window
of the one we adore and say
here, I am here.
Fragment
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged poem, poetry, singing on August 11, 2016| 1 Comment »
Our lives are full of unexpected surges of kindness that seem to come from nowhere.
—Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening
Under the plum tree
I sit with a stranger
and sing for an hour
the old songs—
we take turns
with the melody
and the harmony
and for this time
the heart forgets
the word loneliness
and the plums fall
red and heavy
into our un-expecting hands.
Heartbeat in Concert, March 31, 6:30 p.m. Telluride, Ah Haa School
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged a cappella, Heartbeat, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, singing, Telluride on March 25, 2015| 1 Comment »
It’s poetry set to music … come hear Heartbeat in concert. Seven women singing all genres of music, a cappella.
Here’s a link to an article about our group and what one might expect at the concert.
http://www.tellurideinside.com/2015/03/heartbeat-in-concert-at-ah-haa.html
For an Hour, at Least, on Thanksgiving
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged family, love, poem, poetry, singing, thanksgiving on November 28, 2014| 1 Comment »
I hear America singing, varied carols I hear.
–Walt Whitman
After the mashed potatoes were passed
and after the wine was sipped from the glass
and after the children had left their plates
and before we were ready for pie and cake
we sat around the table and sang
Hotel California, Scarborough Fair,
Morning Has Broken, Walk the Line,
Blister in the Sun, Wild Mountain Thyme
Moon River and My Romance,
Blood on the Saddle, If I Were a Rich Man,
and the words we didn’t know we hummed
or we la-dee-dahed until we found
a phrase to lead us in again.
It’s so like music, gratitude,
the way it draws us closer in
and makes the world feel intimate,
as if anything could happen,
even peace, even love.
What We Practice While Singing A Capella
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged a capella, communion, music, singing, unity on June 7, 2014| Leave a Comment »
for Heartbeat
Here, rest in my voice
on this note we share.
And when you breathe,
I will carry the song.
And when I breathe
I know you’ll be there.
And this is how
the song goes on.
And this is how
we disappear.
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