Today's 10 minute free writing exercise:
The first time I heard "Taller than the Highest Mountain" by Skye Pixton I was in Owen's Cafe and listening intently to the lyrics.
"I wanna feel peace about my past," she sang, "as if I understood it all." I didn't know Skye yet. I had met her two days before. What I knew was that she was a superstar folksinger, and famous in the local scene of Portland, Oregon.
I had sat there listening to her play all sorts of love songs, most likely written for old boyfriends. She even sang hate songs, most likely written for those same old boyfriends.
It was only when she sang "Taller than the Highest Mountain" that she became my sister. I watched the notes escape her throat, each one freshly released from that deep, fleshy soft bed of vulnerability. The song encapsulated everything she dreamed of. She sang,
"I wanna be sexy like wild nectar, pure as the fallen snow..."
"Me too," I felt the words escape me.
She continued, "I wanna soar like an eagle, I wanna sing like a bird..."
I wanted to cry. Skye's face was squenched in a thousand passionte wrinkles. Her eyes were shut, but her mouth was wide open, allowing an exit to the powerful sound escaping her body. I almost felt embarrassed for her. Did she know how much she was allowing us to see? Did she realize she was naked in front of a cafe' of clinkering coffee cups and chatting philosophers? They weren't listening to Skye's soul.
But I was. She was singing mine.
3 comments:
Amen.
Oh, I miss you I miss Skye.
I want to be sexy like wild nectar and pure like fallen snow, that embodies the paradox completely.
Oh, I remember that night, sitting there in that cafe beside you and listening to her and feeling so rich and so cool.
wow......
my stunning friends.
deep breath in and out and loving you
I love that I get to know so many smart, loving, beautiful women. I miss you guys so much but I can feel your beauty all the way over here!!!
Wow. I remember that night. I remember looking into the audience and seeing my "new roommate, the one with the dreads" and feeling cool already for knowing you, and so excited to be your roommate, and so apprehensive, at the same time, that you wouldn't be into me.
To hear that you heard my soul that night... sigh... it is always so hard to be onstage, but so rewarding to know that someone connected with me, and heard me. You proceeded to draw soul out of me and into the world for the next two years. Bless you!
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