Rhythm of Loss

The unraveling of the self plays out with its own time signature
Breaking the compact constraints of traditional measure
While the blue notes of despair are the first to come across,
There is no transcribing the spirit's rhythm of loss

Some label the composition's cadence as a diminuendo
Eccentric, the induced fugue state gives rise to sudden shifts in tempo
A music of dissonance, compression and anarchy
Moaning accents and counterpoint, discord in a minor key

The blows of grief are known to assail with idiosyncrasy
Their percussive patterns jab the listener with frantic immediacy
Leaving the pressured victim untethered and seeking relief
Breath marks play their part in the soul's symphony of deceit

The dynamics of worry quaver in half steps without resolution
For agitation, furioso, doesn't bear internal modulation
Some virtuoso singers can get to the coda in nine bars of melody
But the fraught interval for all others merely leads to disharmony

The scale of the problem repeats in staccato transposition
The syncopated theme crosses the ledger line of dislocation
Tranquillo, the whole rest is always four beats
The timbre of the montage obeys the laws of grief

Rhythm of Loss, a playlist

A soundtrack to contrast from the foregoing intonation. (spotify version)

• Diminuendo And Crescendo In Blue by Duke Ellington
  Paul Gonsalves's ecstatic solo in my antidote. At each listen I marvel at the way it threatens to unravel and yet coheres in exuberance; thrilling, it demands to be danced.
• Circus in Rhythm by Count Basie
  Lester Young is really the feature here, this is the swagger of Kansas City swing
• Rhythm of Love by Anita Baker
  The 90's found my favorite soul diva in contemplation. Smoothed out, she remained caught up in the rapture.
• At a Loss by Brad Mehldau
  Liquid and limpid, the art of the trio
• Fascinating Rhythm by Ella Fitzgerald
  Impeccable as always, has anyone in history ever objected to Ella Fitzgerald?
• Rhythm-A-Ning by Thelonious Monk
  Monk's angular musicianship always reminds one that the piano is a percussive instrument, rhythm is king.
• Ride The Rhythm by Kool & the Gang
• Rhythm Daughter by Julie Dexter
  Some conscious soul and an irresitible groove from a highly underrated new moon daughter
• You've Got to Have Rhythm by John Ellison
• Circus in Rhythm by Lester Young
• Listen To The Rhythm by Sweet Honey In The Rock
• Rockin' In Rhythm by Duke Ellington
  It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.
• Night Rhythms by Lee Ritenour
• Rhythm Music Rides Again by Charlie Hunter
• Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em by Eric B. & Rakim
• He Ain't Got Rhythm by Lester Young
• Rhythm of Love by Marlena Shaw
• Fascinating Rhythm by Dianne Reeves
• Different Rhythms Different People by Us3
• The Rhythm by Kwame

And for a reprise, we can return to Julie Dexter's chorus, behold a rhythm daughter in full flow who moves to her own tune. Look who's got your back

I hear beats around me
Harmony that's soothing

See previously: The Laws of Grief

This internal displacement is part of a series: In a covidious time.

File under: loss, grief, poetry, metaphor, language, culture, observation, perception, humour, whimsy, Observers are worried, covidious, toli

Writing log: February 27, 2021