Let’s not ask each other anything
Not have to explain anything
Not tell
Not confess
Let’s not talk about ex-partners
Let’s not talk about our therapists
Let’s not talk about our fucked up families
Let’s not talk about what meds we’re on
Let’s not talk about what majors we had in college or grad school
or whatever our theses were about
Let’s not talk about where we’ve traveled because we’re so privileged we can afford it
even if we stayed in hostels
Let’s not talk about our jobs or office politics
Let’s not talk about politics
Let’s not say things we know the other person already agrees with yet we have to say to make sure
Let’s not talk about what movies we like
or books
Let’s both not say how much we love Anna Karenina, the person, not just the book, as if she were a real person, which to us she is
Let’s not talk about where we grew up
or places we’ve lived
Let’s not talk about whether we drink or not
socially or not
or whether we smoke pot
Let’s not talk about our cars
or the internet
or the media
Let’s not talk about dogs or cats
Mac or PC
cellphones
or what kind of teenagers we were
No questions
just maybe some music—
a piano in the corner of a bar in Paris
playing As Time Goes By
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)**