Unsuspended Animation—A Moment in Musical Time (poem)

I KNOW ALL THE WORDS, AND WHERE THEY COME FROM!

(Yes, I’m shouting, and I’ll do it again.)

I KNOW ALL THE WORDS, AND WHERE THEY COME FROM!

Sometimes, I know some of the words,
And tear my hair out trying to catch the rest of them

Occasionally, I know all of the words,
But I have no idea from where

This time, I know all the words,
and
I know exactly from where!

Now, how often does that happen?

Years ago, I realized that I already knew
Half of Haftarat Noach—it’s the same as Haftarat Ki Tetze
So I learned the other half
By doing so, I added two new haftarot to my repertoire—
Every haftarah learned
Helps
In a synagogue that can count its haftarah chanters
(Baalei/baalot haftarah?)
On two hands

So there I sat, not having been called in to work that Friday
Our home printer on my left cranking out checks
(Gotta pay the early-October bills—
at least the ones with late fees—
before Rosh Hashanah, no?)
While, to my right, lay my beloved, battered Hertz Chumash
Its cover long gone from over 30 years of constant use
Opened to Haftarat Re’eh
And what the composer has so delicately described as
“those crappy computer speakers”
cranked up high enough
that I could hear his voice—a real singer’s—above my own

I stood up, and, right away, got into trouble
“No, no, not now, not to this one!
Wait for the full-band version!”
But my feet refused to suspend their animation
And so the rest of me gave up, and followed suit
Such a delight!
What a simple pleasure
To choreograph for solo singer and acoustic guitar alone

Back to work!
The bills were magnetized to the apartment door
Awaiting mailing
I headed into the kitchen
And there, scrubbing the countertops,
I found myself entertaining the poor, long-suffering neighbors
With full voice and heart
Singing a new song to Hashem


Motz’ei Shabbat, Saturday, September 24, 2005


Mark Skier's Aniyah (acoustic)

http://psychotoddler.blogspot.com/

http://www.mosheskier.com/index.htm