My brain radio occasionally gets stuck
on needle-skipping melodies
I didn’t so much listen to
as wallow in, absorb-
ant self in the deluge of teen-
age angst, schadenfreude, zeitgeist, gesundheit—
I am allergic to
memory—swinging bell bottoms,
sting of weed on fire,
cardiac riffs of Kershaw
howled across that four-stringed
winged instrument
of bliss and torture. Bless you.
Music can hold enormous power in memories and experiences, transporting us instantly to an age, location, or person. What sonic joys, mysteries, disbelief, and clarity have you experienced? Identify songs of influence in your life and explore them like variations on a theme, melding syntax and song structure, recalling the seriousness or levity that accompanies. Whether it’s an account of when a specific song first entered your life, the process of learning to play a song, teaching someone a song, experiencing the same song in different places as it weaves through your life, unbelievable radio timing, sharing songs with those in need, tracking the passing down of songs, creative song analysis, music as politics, etc, I am interested in those ineffable moments and welcoming submissions of your own variations on a theme, as drawn from your life’s soundtrack. Please email submissions to meganentropy@gmail.com and keep an eye out for others’ Variations.
**(“song” is a broad phrase: could be a pop song, a traditional tune, a symphony, commercial jingles, a hummed lullaby, 2nd grade recorder class horror stories, etc)**
A child of the 1960s, Thea Gavin still lives in her hometown of Orange, CA, where the steep trails east of town continue to inspire her barefoot running and writing. The four-stringed instrument she is currently obsessed with: ukulele. When she’s not strumming, Thea enjoys leading nature writing workshops–both locally and at Grand Canyon National Park–and blogging about her shoeless adventures at www.theagavin.wordpress.com.
