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Monday, August 7, 2023

Evil Ways

 We discovered music. We then invented genres.

After many a column brokered, metaphors tortured, and criticisms brooked we convinced ourselves that we are a civilized culture. 

While music presents no rules and leaves the beholder to ascertain the beauty in anything, we appointed ourselves gatekeepers to supposed purity standards. 

In doing so, we not only poisoned the well of elixir for any thirsty traveler, we might have forgotten the reasons for embracing art. 

It's not an extra-curricular, it's not just something nice on the weekend - it is continuing education. It is history, sociology, anthropology, economics and aesthetics all rolled into one - and another lens to look at the reason for why "us". 

Carlos Santana and Indian Ocean offer the unbridled joy for me so I may never be shackled by the cynicism of our own constructs. The joy of their art lets me be, instead of being suspicious of my own shadow. 

Some wise words to sum all of this up. 


Friday, April 21, 2023

Bleed. I Love You.

 Caffeine.

In this mayhem created by the hijacking of certain receptors by this innocuous chemical, one thought has managed to organize and reach unified clarity. 

My love for "Bleed" by Meshuggah is now complete. I am completely besotted by it. 

It took 15 years for friends to become lovers. All this while I thought I loved the song. And today I love it more. 

I can rationally try to explain this love - elements of which can be separately described, but not understood apart. 

The anthropomorphizing of an aneurysm in a human's brain - and the twisted poetry that is needed to paint the picture. 

The brutal atypical vocal delivery ala Jens Kidman - the masterful job to bring painfully alive the words.

The demented guitar sound, the spidery sonic scaffolding that binds it together. 

The rhythmic masterpiece that Tomas Haake conjured and immortalized in this song. 

But reason will still fail that centuries old fight to explain love. 

To borrow from the creators themselves

Heed - it commands. Heed my will

Bleed - it says. Bleed you will

It is falling prey to its charms. It is submission to its unrelenting assault. 

It is an admission of being in love. 


Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Thoughts on Autumn


This fog of my mind
Would you dispel it
O sunshine of autumn

This silence of the path
Would your music crease it
O swift brook from the north

This restless beat of our heart
Would your hands soothe it
O cool winds that hath travelled far

This parched land of our greed
Would you revive it
O dark chariots that ferry Life

This misery of our ways
Would you guide us out
O colored leaves of the Fall

Under the smooth grains of grey Winter
Would anyone heed our call?







Friday, August 27, 2021

Neon Lights

 Sometimes a neon light night will do


Expectations loom large

Cheap profundity abound 

And mirrors begin to lie

And the ears miss the ring of claps around


Masks on masks on masks

Ease of wit chameleon

And each makes obscures one beneath

Death with reprieve


When the music demands dance

And a scream is hard to find

A carnival of cheap thrills and sounds 

Those neon lights will do. 



Sunday, August 15, 2021

Shesher Kobita

 I will not pretend to comprehend fully, for this will require many a moon to contemplate. 

But yet again, Gurudev, you have reached out and touched this brow lovingly and imparted sagely wisdom.

And for all you have given with a free heart, I remain in your debt. 

A meagre thank you is all this mendicant can muster, for garrulity shall not be my wont.

 


Wednesday, March 3, 2021

First Flight


 Last flight - Jan 24, 2020. 




Its been a long 400 days since that last flight. 



                                     


Amidst the spiraling death count and subterfuge of social distancing, an imposed isolation takes its toll. 



                                    


The human muscle was atrophied. 


                                        

But soaring high above the clouds, all worries were put to rest. 


                                          

These shades and hues remind of  an anachronistic permanence that 400 days cannot extinguish. 



And so, when the plane soars, the gaze lifts, and reminds us of what we are. 


                              

Friday, February 19, 2021

Love is love.

Cogito Ergo Sum. 

The recognition of self is followed inevitably by a realisation of self and self worth. 

Denying this self worth - by ostracisation,  by law, by conditioning - is often employed to garnish an emaciated entity with a facade of power. 

This veneer of monstrosity defines itself insularly and etches away at itself slowly. 

As sure as the flowing water will carve out canyons, this visage will depart. 

And whence one emerges from this cavern into the full daylight of life, transcendence awaits. For as simple as a breath of fresh air, is the axiom that we are all equal, announces itself. 

Saturday, January 23, 2021

Real Big Sky

 Under the inky dome, stars wedded to it

My creation takes shape and form

I brought you forth and lived through you

And you became my crutch, night after day

Injecting you into my dreams to sleep with a smile

So shackled this imagination, so pallid its complexion

It aborts any sense of renewal, of vulnerable redemption and meaning

So, burn down what you worship

and worship the immolation, for this fire sustains life

And prepare to toil, to sow, to sculpt.

For the rivers carry a new song, and the sky deem us wondrous

Only if they shelter creations anew. 


Dedicated to Emma Ruth Rundle.

            

Sunday, January 10, 2021

Happy Trails, Myles.

 You were the most perfect car in most respects.  It was a good ride - ruined only very slightly by your creators lack of quality. 

Goodbye little donkey. You've been a good friend. 





Thursday, December 17, 2020

Storm Corrosion

 All we can do is predict the storm and prepare for it as best we can.

Mother Nature does her best to love each of her creations. 

Not out of malice. Caprice, maybe. 

All you can do is accept it. 

And when the last snow flake has landed and the winds throaty roar has faded into eerie silence, is a chance for rediscovery. 

And Mother Nature allows us to choose the soundtrack. 

She did make us predictably stubborn.