I Tell Myself too Many Things to Track
a villanelle
Learning to give up is me, looking back
only to see a bed of open air.
I can never just cut myself some slack.
Lately, it seems everyone has the knack;
but not us, here. No one asks how we fare.
Learning to give up is me, looking back,
realizing it might all just fade to black;
no announcements to stop us waiting there.
I can never just cut myself some slack.
I tell myself too many things to track:
It’s me. It’s him. It’s so simple. It’s rare.
Learning to give up is me, looking back
at all I have and what I’ve come to lack.
Lists of names bundle into one big snare—
I can never just cut myself some slack.
Each month, I trip on tightropes and cracks.
A bed of smiles grows rapidly more bare.
Learning to give up is me, looking back—
I could never just cut myself some slack.
About the Creator
Mackenzie Davis
“When you are describing a shape, or sound, or tint, don’t state the matter plainly, but put it in a hint. And learn to look at all things with a sort of mental squint.” Lewis Carroll
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'20/20'
"Do It Again" the track that would ultimately open the Beach Boys final album on Capitol Records which was released on February 10th 1969 had originally been released as a single in August of 1968. The track was the first of many post-Pet Sounds era throwbacks to the early Beach Boys sound which would become continually more cliched and eventually lead the Beach Boys to the level of self-parody they would eventually succumb to in the 1980s while their closest contemporaries The Beatles nearing the end of their run in 1969 would go on to be viewed as the most influential band of all time. However, the song itself is not bad on its surface, and it opens with a futuristic sounding (for 1969) drumbeat captured by then-Beach Boys engineer Stephen Desper using tape delays on the drums performed by Dennis Wilson and John Guerin. The song has been re-recorded numerous times over the years on various Beach Boys-related projects most notably the 2011 re-recording at Capitol studios featuring the five surviving Beach Boys at the time backed instrumentally by various members of both the Brian Wilson Band and Mike Loves touring "Beach Boys" to promote the then upcoming Beach Boys 50th Anniversary reunion tour in 2012. The hammering and power drill sound at the end of the song was an excerpt from a track called "Workshop" that was to be a part of the uncompleted "SMiLE" album.
By Sean Callaghan4 days ago in Beat
Comments (4)
"A bed of smiles grows rapidly more bare." That's the danger line. You know it's got to change, but you don't want to give up because you will have to change or everything will. There is comfort in the familiar even when it isn't what you want.
"I trip on tightropes and cracks" -- that's a squinty line. Well done.
This poem has so much rhythm, it’s like a song. Love it, Mackenzie
Yeahhhhh...glad to see you put this out. Love "..trip on tightropes..." I also enjoyed the way you carried the refrain from the fifth to the sixth stanza. At the same time, it's such a mournful look at a relationships and how we view them. Nice work!