Here I am walking somewhere between the morning I left
and the evening I have yet to meet
My feet carrying forward what my mind has begun to release
The thought that started three blocks back still turning
still shaping itself into something I can hold
You who know this feeling You who have stood
in the middle of becoming neither here nor there
Your heart beating its steady rhythm while your soul
sorts through the beautiful debris of a day half lived
The conversations that linger the decisions that hover
like birds uncertain of their next perch
I am the walker midstride the thinker midrevelation
The one whose words form and dissolve before reaching
the place where speaking begins
Watch how the sidewalk unfolds beneath me
each step a small act of faith
each breath a commitment to the next moment arrival
What magnificent thing is this to be caught
between departure and destination
to carry within me both the echo of where I have been
and the promise of where I am going
The world spreads before me endless and welcoming
and I democratic in my uncertainty
embrace both the question and its eventual answer
Here in this suspension this beautiful hanging between
I am most myself most American
most alive to possibility
About the Creator
Tim Carmichael
Tim is an Appalachian poet and cookbook author. He writes about rural life, family, and the places he grew up around. His poetry and essays have appeared in Bloodroot and Coal Dust, his latest book.
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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 Callaghan7 days ago in Beat
Comments (3)
Glorious work Tim! This is a masterpiece! You have a winner on your hands my friend! BRAVO!
This piece is so beautifully written. I keep getting pulled to these lines that I think will stay with me for awhile. They make me feel like everyone has a past that doesn't necessarily shape their future. You can make of it what you will. "the echo of where I have been and the promise of where I am going"
Your poem is beautiful, Tim. I especially loved these lines but I could reference many more! "You who have stood in the middle of becoming neither here nor there Your heart beating its steady rhythm while your soul sorts through the beautiful debris of a day half lived" Majestic. A lovely way to view Americans from this ol' Canadian chum