You Are Here

This is a video poem. An idea I had that I explored in some downtime in Northampton around the iron horse. Which was one of the best shows of this leg of our Real alligator rollout tour. I wrote this poem after I woke in the middle of the night in Norwich, New York. I can’t remember if it was the night before the show the night after. It doesn’t matter. The piece itself is not really finished. It’s a work in progress as many of my poems are. Hell as many of my songs are as well. As much as any of us are actually. Works in progress all of us? What’s interesting is shooting these lines from the poem as best I could remember them in the moment, thinking about audio, video, the shot and people wandering around, fans stopping me on the street while I’m shooting. It’s quite challenging to do. And then editing later something else, a different version of the poem. Anyway, here it is. enjoy. The full unedited poem is here as well, so you can see how things got edited from the original that woke me in the middle of the night. And I should say, though the poem reads as though there is someone in the room rubbing my belly in the middle of the night, it was a dream I had that Robin, my wife was rubbing my belly. That’s what woke me up in the middle of the night. And then this poem came to me as I laid there at four in the morning. Some have asked if I ever stop writing. And I think the answer is probably no I even write in my sleep…. Also, I should say a bit of this idea comes from listening to Alan Watts lecture. If you don’t know, Alan Watts, I would recommend listening to the podcast, called being in the way that’s curated by his son. It’s a bunch of his old lectures. And for reading sake, start with a book of his called, The Wisdom Of Insecurity. This is an important book to me in my growth as a person. Basically the idea is that life is inherently, insecure, dangerous, risky, and eventually will cause death. It’s not exactly Bobby McFerrin, Don’t worry be happy, but that’s the basic gist You think you are here Don’t put Descartes before The horse the divorce before the source It’s not that you are at all It’s that you think you are Is that You are in between The drudgery and the dream None of what you see is what you’ve seen If seeing is believing, to love is to fear It is what it is and it ain’t what it ain’t You just think you are here And if that’s not a hook I don’t know what it is They used to say ain’t ain’t a word But it is what it is to love is to fear If I think, therefore I am I’m a man I’m a ham I’m a wheel I feel her hand, caressing my belly In the still of the night The absence of light Let’s a beam or two sit and brood Around the window Of the blackout curtains Across the street I can see The church, 100 years old Under renovation this dismal little town Heart of darkness and still In the middle of the night Love over gold Lightning over the park Norwichers Norwichians norwichites Dancing in the rain Frolicking in the mud and the beer The frequency of feelings Lost somewhere between The singer and the song we are singing As deep as it is long It’s nothing really You just think you were here Love over loss Love over fear How clearly must I say it? For this machine to hear To write it down from the sound of my voice I must speak so perfectly and so clear You are not here because you think You just think you are here Love over fear Do not be afraid We’re always here On our way to nowhere Don’t think Just keep dancing in the mud Until the lightning says go home To your family and Sit down by the fire light Good night, Irene I’ll never let you go But I must Love over fear I think that I think You’re always near Confused, I stopped and looked At the simple map Where is it I was going? An arrow points to me and says You think you are here This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shinyribs.substack.com/subscribe