12 Wednesday Apr 2017
Posted in Art, James Taylor, Memory, Muse, My window at night, Seasons, Violence, Yoga
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Does it startle you,
shake you from oblivion,
draw you to attention,
to your fear?
Or do you turn away
huddled, covering
your head and shoulders,
shrugging to save
all the warmth you can
in that last instant
before you are swimming
in the frigid air,
overtaken
by a wave capsizing,
ripping even your feet
from under you?
Lord knows how the shock
of bitterness
can drive us this way, that.
——-
Listening to James Taylor’s Fire and Rain.
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There’s such a shiver and an edge to this throughout.
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You know, that was kind of on purpose. For some reason, when I heard this song last week (for about the 1000th time), this line stuck out so hard —
Lord knows when the cold wind blows
it will turn your head around.
It took my breath away.
My instinct has always been that the metaphor meant the wind was making you pay attention to something, like the shocking suicide of a friend. And then it occurred to me that James Taylor could have rather meant that you want to hide (considering the awful context of the song). I was going for that ambivalence and harshness. Taylor is getting at such a deep and complicated moment in life with such a comfy little metaphor. It is why we listen 1000 times to the song …
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oh, so much to consider here. I like what you say about the comfy little metaphor in a deep and complicated moment. Sometimes all we have to approach those moments with–or what we can use to try to make others understand, at least on a visceral level
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