| POETRY |
| WILD LONGINGS I feel the need to tramp paths unknown to me Bend to my knees on damp earth Part the blades of sharp grass and count the ants As they scurry I want to find holly growing wild The berries so bright Ruby treasures nesting among green leaves I want to see the magnolia bloom And stand in heavens scent Filling up my pores with that perfume Just to walk the creek at midnight With no moon Watching the animals drink A wishful dream of mine When I find a sudden clearing amidst the forest I want to ride the jangling notes of a tambourine And dance in my gypsy dress Twirling Until I lose my breath and fall by Sheryl McCurdy |
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| SHE HAS ALL SHE NEEDS She didn’t want to know the names of his children Or about his daughters dog who scratched through the screen door One night chasing the neighbors cat The fact that tomorrow was one year to the date He had purchased his first book of poetry and now He owned more than 50 was something she could have done without Knowing These items would be stashed forever into the growing pile of Too much information she didn’t want To remember Or come across in her random searching of memories for perhaps The way her mother had fried chicken Or the formula to convert pounds to kilograms Her polite manner and helpful demeanor wrapped around her Like a very thick cape and Hid her anger toward this aimless conversation, though She wanted only to close her eyes and fall into the pleasing Darkness where nothing mattered except The rolling shimmer of pure lust that rippled through her When his body talked to hers without any need for spoken words Painting her scope of vision silvery gleaming black with a Scattering of tiny lights beckoning, just out of reach Please, she thought, Just shut up She wanted only to rise, clinging onto luminous waves of heat Arms outstretched helpless and then slowly slowly sink Deep into pools of warm silk quietly telling herself all the while I know with certainty this is all I will ever need by Sheryl McCurdy |
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| THE PIANO SHED Uncle Merles garage housed a black upright Piano ivories yellowed with age Under a black stiff tarp But the felts were all okay I learned to play by ear the country songs Spinning on the 45’s and 8 –tracks that were popular in those days I lectured on Wasted Days and Wasted Nights and Wondered what it was all about When She Let Her Hair Hang Down Warbling from within the dusty car shed Sawdust thick between my toes that summer I turned 7 Funny songs for so tender an age Music had me by the ear and pulled me in I preached Stand By Your Man and gave out advice on what to do When The Last Teardrop Falls I lost my fear and prayed for a talent scout to drive up through The gravel pocked alley and “discover” me The newest youngest country singer/piano player in the world I played and sang until dusk then ambled next door Perched in Grandmas apple tree for a snack Drank from the snake-like garden hose icy cold water My raw throat soothed I fell asleep at night with the crickets humming by Sheryl McCurdy |
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| MIDI: summertime jazz |
