Now's the Time

The afterlife of a whispered thought
Lingering, a seed planted haphazardly bears fruit
Precious, a leaf collects dew drops, a matter of flows redirected
Reducing, harnessing, fluid dripping capturing the very essence

Even without anyone immediately acting, ideas witnessed gain weight
Assessed when issued but always waiting for their moment
That nature and society abides with the waiting without regret
Secure in the gods' admonition for restraint
Keenly discerning the theme that opportune time deems befitting
When mankind would seize the direction of the most worthy

The prescient would bemoan the wasted time
While the laggards, new converts all, would sing the praises of the present
The regrets of the former - inconvenient as they are,
Are mere reminders of the grand experiment that is life

Pressure relieved, catharsis reprieved
The rhythms echo the past messages
Fragments made whole, a new synthesis
Vivid futures in prospect, now's the time

Now's the Time, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note. (spotify version)

• Now's the Time by Charlie Parker
• The Right Time by Ray Charles
• I'm Ready by Tevin Campbell
• It's Time by The Winans
• Time is on my Side by Maze
• People Get Ready by Brand New Heavies
• Our Time Has Now Come by Soul II Soul
• It's Time by Horace Silver
• Now's the Time by Prince and the Revolution
• The Time is Right by Barry White

File under: culture, observation, perception, memory, sensory, poetry, toli

Writing log: May 21, 2023

Questions

Questions. Mostly unanswered but still worth savoring
The act of articulating a thought brings its own reward
And trouble too, for outlining a pitfall brings up liability
We'd rather plod on covered by our veil of inertia

Forewarned implies agency and the shackles of responsibility
And tort with its troubling specter, a reminder that we live in community
Caught between decisions to forget - escape clauses
And what we choose to remember, commemorate and applaud

Better the comfort blanket of neglect
The faint hope of a rescue at the last, the arc of a story
The seductions of wishes, human truths to live by
Something, someone will come at the last moment

Lingering thoughts, softly, beneath a whisper
Hovering, floating almost above a scream
Unspoken messages, liminal, unseen
Nesting, incubating, fragments of a dream
Questions, yes. Mostly unanswered, but always worth savoring

Questions, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• The Questions by Common & Mos Def
• Unanswered Question by Amel Larrieux
• Love is the Question by Linvall Thompson
• The Question of U by Prince
• No Question by Roy Ayers
• Question and Answer by Pat Methany
• There Are More Questions Than Answers by Johnny Nash
• The Question Is by The Winans
• 21 Questions by 50 Cent
• Question Mark by Allen Kwela Octet
• Reasonable Question by Brian Eno
• Ask Me No Questions by The Bangles
• Questions by David Ruffin
• Questions by Morgan Heritage

File under: culture, observation, strategy, memory, perception, poetry, toli

Writing log: May 20, 2023

Up for None

Up for none and down for nothing
The fever that had gripped us dissipated
Leaving so suddenly that the previous scripts were still in place
Bewildering to perform the rote actions, even more pointless now in the light of day

Clear eyed though, we told ourselves fictions
That the fog had lifted for good
The new certainty, the new normalcy, we averred
That we would only deal with the lingering mist going forward
That the righteous hubris that just yesterday opened wounds could be foregone
Up for none, we played our role

Still, best to forget the previous direction, the wounds inflicted
Purification ceremonies have their chaperones, midwives to earlier indecencies
For shame's inconvenience is soothed by the passing of time
From fictions spring received notions
The balm of stories we tell ourselves to relieve the burden of ignorance

Rewriting the script with the assured rhetoric of the misled
Gaps, ellipses, things that are suddenly unmentioned
Unmentionable in the polite society of striving simians
Smothered by all too conventional wisdom, these truths
Up for none, then, and down for nothing

Up for none, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• Keep on Movin' by Soul II Soul
• Don't Look Back by The Tempations
• Up for the Down Stroke by Parliament
• How Soon We Forget by Colonel Abrams
• Back to Life by Soul II Soul
• Up and Down by Ray Prim
• Forget Me Nots by Patrice Rushen
• Don't Look Back by Bobby Womack
• But Not For Me by Ahmad Jamal
• Up and Down by Horace Parlan
• Don't Look Back by Ramsey Lewis

This note is part of a series: In a covidious time.

File under: culture, observation, perception, regret, Buyer's Remorse, poetry, toli

Writing log: May 16, 2023