find your way

Two nights ago I was fortunate to see Rising Appalachia live in Glasgow. I have followed their journey from afar for some years and have taught a version of a traditional West African song called Sunu in my drum classes, which they have recorded so beautifully….so this was a special night for me. They did not disappoint. So moved was I that I cancelled my plans and jumped on a train the next morning to Leeds to see their next gig and surprise Mrs Scribbles who could not make Glasgow and thought I could not make Leeds. Another treat was in store for me. Sadly all my plans cannot be cancelled and work/play at festivals beckon me so I will most likely (never say never!!!) not catch them again on this tour. Here is a poem i wrote inspired by the two gigs and my brief encounter with these lovely folk. Haste Ye Back.

 

life affirming

soul sound

aimed right

at your heart

 

resonating

at the

frequency of love

 

pure

and determined

to

affect change

 

blessing us with

music rooted in

a deep-down and dirty

Southern Sista(hood)

 

and in the Earth

THIS our only Earth

and her people

 

those who have a seat at their table

for a stranger

a cup spare to fill up

a plate of food

a bed for the night

a lift along the road

the diggers

the dreamers

 

humans

being

 

bardic vibrations

ink-folk-ed

and ancestral

unfold

before us

as the songs rise up

 

some say spirit shines here

bright and alive

and they’d be right

 

but what

moves me the most

is the HUMANITY

 

this deep

 

beautiful

 

presence

 

borne out of

 

a life loved

and lived

 

in

 

sacred

 

moments

 

 

step

by

learn(ed)

step

 

and out of a walk

of talk

 

of purpose

 

of power

 

this ain’t no show

this shit’s for real

 

harmonies of the whole lift

you and your

new found soul cradle

up to a place

on the bough of

the world tree

that you only thought

could be dreamed

about

 

to rock you

sweetly

gently

and so soulfully

 

smiles a mile wide

eyes deep and light

a flame burns there

 

and you catch the fire

 

hearts connected by blood

pumping Sista -love through the veins of it all

 

strings that collide

both thick and thin

in an ecstatic dance

woven into majestic

sound-vines

that wrap a melody

around us all

 

like a hug

from the inside out

 

and pull us into the heart of this

 

rhythm that is full

but spacious

 

funked up

and breathing

 

flowing from the

shaker-hands

and finger tips of

a

deep

listener

 

this is not just music

nor art

 

but an echo of life’s very pulse

throbbing and vital

 

necessary

 

i am altered

by this

 

taken away

but simultaneously

brought

right back

 

to here

 

to the

NOW

 

i bathe in this

drink it in

knowing it must pass

 

i swallow it whole

and hold it there

visioned

like that glorious dawn moon-rise

that lingers

in the photograph

i never took

 

and i walk on

with a song in my heart

 

reminding me

to

keep on

finding

my

way