“Music happens between the notes.”

YoYo Ma

In an OnBeing podcast, Krista Tippett recalled an interview with YoYo Ma to illustrate transitions.  For Ma,  
“…music happens between the notes.”  Perhaps I stretch the metaphor, but I would venture that hiking happens between the steps, that travel happens between the cities – or in my case these past three weeks, between rivers and Great Lakes.

For me, the slowdown happens between vacation and the coming home. I find myself in search of steady ground, time to re-orient myself to home and routine, time to reflect.

We were tourists in Chicago. We hopscotched across Ohio. We biked Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Chicago was all about sharing a close friend’s love affair with her hometown.

Ohio began as a way to kill four days (because “what else are we going to do”) and became a chance to relive the songs that raised us.

Michigan was sheer exhilaration – riding a bike 300 miles along the shores of three Great Lakes.

Meanwhile, back at home our four-month-old puppy was learning to swim.

Aging parents were chewing over my parting admonitions to stop driving.

And our first-born’s first-born is on the way.

 So, transitions loom large in my life. Lots to reflect on.  Some of that reflecting has taken the form of postcard poems to friends and poetry partners.

Some of it is here. Some is still to come.

A Chicago Afternoon

glitter and pop of a city street
peppered with pedestrian legs escaping
from summer shorts,
soaking up sun as they stride sidewalks,
pause, and listen to the rhythm of the El
that hums heavily overhead

 it feels good to walk in a city
amid chatter and echo and din
blend in at an outdoor cafe
watch the outline of skyscrapers
twinkle the horizon of a night sky

©draft, Patricia J. Franz

 

Cuyahoga National Park

bevvy of skinny trunks guides us
casting a soft green hue
across a floor of fallen leaves
the canopy titters with raindrops
like giggling girls sharing a huddled secret

everything wet
slippery stone steps
laid long ago
by unemployed employed
FDR’s genius
to keep idle minds out of trouble

a canal, locks
forged a town
fed a family
left a legacy
lost in a canopy
whispers its history
to those who come to visit

July 6, 2022
©draft, Patricia J. Franz

 

July 4, Highland Park

 

on this day
that marks an upstart country’s
quest for independence,
one undone young man
used a gun
to murder innocents
marking this day –
once for parades
to come together
to celebrate

my heart sinks
we walk city streets
depleted
just recovered
glass fronts
newly reinstalled
trying, trying so hard
for normal

america the beautiful
america the cruel
america the sad
america dependent on guns

rage and despair
repair indoors
shelter in place
wait till it’s safe
to come out

©draft, Patricia J. Franz

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