~L. B. Nelson
Warm Sun
Breeze flowing through
Work-worn
Hands clapping
Life-worn thumb harps
Spring in rapid unison;
Fiddle strings stroked
Slowly up,
Slowly down;
Harmonicas inhaled exhaled;
Double-time guitar strings
Pulled then released swiftly in-between
Children chatter, crying, laughter
Flowing through people drumming
Community humming
Swaying their best give-take joy,
Nutrition to all Souls;
Female, Mother, Grandmother, Auntie, Sister, Woman
Sing life stories in ever-changing solos;
Listening eyes of all the ages reflecting acknowledgment;
Old Gourd, aged wooden box, rusty tin can tones
Strung tightly by animal gut strings
Plucked by people-instruments;
Short strokes to the slow fiddle
Double-time drums
Clapping life-worn hands
Perfectly tuned
To the melody of the heart-strummed guitar;
Male, Father, Grandfather, Uncle, Son, Man
Sing life stories in strong harmony
Reverb through any rib cage.
So much more … this head will explode
Or this mind will unlatch from the dock
And float with the bliss of this
Never to return
To Where am I
