If you know, you know

“The American people have spoken”I’m American peopleSeldom ‘Herd’ I have voted in 13 presidential elections. My candidate has won 6 … More

This Burning Wait

It consumes all of me is a dreamSinging red, yellow, and orangeAutumn’s dying days dance all downIn Korea choir the … More

A-

When I’m deep in practiceI’ll go an hour or twoOnly pausing perhapsTo add a new fingering or chordAnd at the … More

Marches On

Grad school was a bad time to discoverI was burned out on reading and writingHad only a desire for playing … More

Walls

“If you can’t play for us,” Jan says in an encouraging voice, “you know you’d have a tough time on open … More

Our Music

My mom’s ‘ukulele, a Martin, very rareSits on the piano she also played The ‘uke was her favorite instrument There’s … More

Some of It’s My Story

So, Chris, I’ve been thinking about the story you told me yesterday. I hope das good news. Oh, of course … More

Gordon Lightfoot Rose

Those weren’t soft footstepsTip-toeing up the stairsWhen Gordon Lightfoot took offJumped the last jet planeTo rise whole and healedFar above … More

Saving the Singer

Any fear Kimo had of this being a trap evaporated instantly. Off he trotted toward the singing damsel in distress. … More

The Voice

Kimo and I advanced cautiously up the hill. When we reached spots where the old man had difficulty, I, as … More

Rising Star

Christopher Kalama was gifted. A Mozart, some people said. At three, he picked up his father’s ‘ukulele. It looked like … More

Rock of Ages

You remember that Carly Simon song, “There’s Always Someone Haunting Someone”? I suppose she could be talking about actual ghosts, … More

When What’s Not Isn’t Missing

Something you should knowIs sometimes not’s not missing Not isAs in the space between two words on a pageOr the … More

Making Believe

            Earlier this year, I found out she’d passed away after a 10-year battle with Parkinson’s Disease.  That’s a hell of a … More

That’s the One

I enter the vaultWhere lights never workOnly the dimmest glowSeeping through the open doorHelps me hunt In here lies every … More

Two Lives

He sits in concert on his roof tonightWrapped around his guitarBlues rifts and lonesome lyricsThe sound that money makesAnd fame … More

Back to Basics

Did you learn anything yesterday?I learned that notes of a songAre played like daisies being plucked along a path.I learned … More

Musing

And as she agedShe whisperedSoft and always softerMy hand on hersHer fingers worn and weakened armsBreath fading fainterHow she played … More

Vienna Waits

The bones of ancestorsPeace and good willWatch against darknessWarn against strifeWish enlightenmentWhen inquiry yields its wayAll mysteries recedeA greater distance … More

Don’t forget the lyrics to this song

It’s not just now; it’s been this way all my lifeSome mental disorder I only overcame by recitingLyrics until they … More