closer to edge everyday now any day now it draws nigh into the void how far how high dare we go beyond the realm dare to dream possibilities exist its there within our grasp … closer and closer every day …
© 2017 michael d emmerich
Daily thoughts
Our Mortal Coil
this life this mortal coil to be or to live shedding this toil just how long is the life we choose to live close your eyes and dream if you dare gaze through the window what looks back in the stain-glass an image a reflection or nothingness look beyond the window into the distance at our own possibilities over the horizon beyond the veil a probable future awaits ........ tear that veil
© 2017 michael d emmerich
Ode to My Beloved
you lift me up and set me down with you life is rich without you its not life this life an another can we expect more stars are raining down as your hair brushes the sky close your eyes and dream if you dare this life and then the next …. into the sunset
© 2017 michael d emmerich
Answers in the Wind
it's all just blowing in the wind when cowls fly and doves scrape the sky angry white horses relentlessly throw themselves against the sand time is like mist sweeping over the mountains swirling …. to and fro its all a daze as shadows become real and ….. questions are answered when the wind blows
© 2017 michael d emmerich
Responsibility Abdicated
easy is the hand that holds the gun steady as you pull the trigger bloody is the hand guided by the steady hand on the hilt uneasy lie the tablets as calm hands hold the water jug its not murder its not death just doing my job not my doing not my responsibility just following orders not even gods will nuremberg defence is no defence at all use your conscience and object
© 2017 michael d emmerich
Blurred Lines
truth at the flip of a coin heads or tails you still lose do not adjust your set even if it is out of focus blurred lines merging into a gray morass indecipherable enigma's everything and next to nothing reality is transformed fact becomes fiction life becomes reality alternate is the new the norm art is no more drink and feast for tomorrow you die
© 2017 michael d emmerich
Over the Horizon
what lies over the horizon what is at the end of the road a light? an escape? a void? a sigh of relief or an expectation overcome with emotion weak at the knees weak must be strong stand tall breath deep savour the end the light rapidly advances emerging into ….....
© 2017 michael d emmerich
At What Cost
Been thinking a lot of late about the cost of service, the sacrifice, be it medical, fire, police and military. Read a few clinical articles in the week in JEMS, on PTSD and how services don’t deal with it, and reread an article I wrote awhile back and the article I quoted.
the price you pay come so far waited so long worked so hard only to be in a dream heaven or hell it always changes dark holds the light at bay the more you give the more they take the more they live the more you die stand firm fight for the price you've paid pay in blood sometimes your own some cease feeling for themselves or others teases and the doubts solved by being uncomfortably numb made it back home but how? checking out is possible but you can never leave you can't walk away from the price you pay nothing more wretched than what must be endured been through hell is it all worth it?
© 2017 michael d emmerich
Image © 2011-2017 DanSun PhotoArt – www.dansunphotos.com
Into the Woods
hay little sister
do you understand
no red cape in the woods
will save you
hearts of darkness
bleed on the dark side
all the way
to the golden gate
be warned
scary things lurk in the woods
they said in hushed whispers
as I entered
looking back over my shoulder
with a faint smile
I said
I know....
© 2017 michael d emmerich
The Bard of New Jersey
This is not a definitive article on The Boss, but an introspective look at 3 albums which have resonated with me over time (I do need to revisit these 3 albums with a more weighty article). Springsteen is an artist I greatly admire and respect, for so many reasons; for his strong social consciousness and the way he juxtaposes darkness and light, despair and hope, life and death; all the while documenting life as he sees the world.
Most of his songs focus on the marginalized, the working-class, people making their way in the world, getting through the daily grind. He has spent most of his musical career documenting the daily struggle of people who live in a country (America) where the status quo is:
enforced by a corpocratic government that allows only the rich to get richer
His songs offer glimpses of loss, confusion, hope, faith, resolve, death and destruction; caused by life, politics and government mismanagement. He continually offers hope, at times only glimpses, but it is there for those who are looking; as they are tested by the fire. Emerging from the furnace of life scarred but whole.
I sink beneath the river cool and clear
Drifting down I disappear
I see you on the other side
I search for the peace in your eyes
I break above the waves
I feel the sun upon my faceParadise – from the Rising 2002
Springsteen is not scared to ask the hard questions that confront the working man. In the above quoted album The Rising; there are tales of great suffering, but there is joy, hope, and a possibility of new tomorrow, without an empty sky. Springsteen says, he was “concerned with those [relationship] ideas: that if you don’t connect yourself with your family and to the world, you feel like you’re disappearing, fading away”.
He has the ability to bring beauty to tragedy, and shine light where it should not exist. Some of his greatest work, in my opinion, are his three acoustic albums; they are stark, dark and raw. They claw at the very fabric of society, lifting the covers and showing the dark underbelly, that exists right in front of us, that we are at times, to blind to see, or refuse to see.
It’s songwriting, you know, but in the sense that there’s a geography to it, there’s a landscape, both a physical landscape and an emotional landscape, where I’m trying to capture the essence of an individual’s life in some sense. What’s he striving for? What’s he struggling with? Where is he?Bruce Springsteen in conversation with Adam Sweeting 2010
The three acoustic albums are Nebraska (1982), The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995) and Devils and Dust (2005). I would say this triptych is essential listening – in one sitting – for all those hardcore Springsteen fans, during which you would be hard pressed to survive with dry eyes.
The stark, dark acoustic masterpiece, The Ghost Of Tom Joad, (Steinbeck fans will remember this character from The Grapes of Wrath, which Springsteen reread before doing this album)which celebrates its 21st anniversary this November, is considered by many to be a sequel to Nebraska (1982) due to its tone, mood and context. It skirts the darkness at the edges of towns and those lost in our peripheral vision. Its as real and relevant today as it was then, whether you live in the USA, Europe or South Africa. The austere guitar plays out against a dark post apocalypse economic wasteland visited upon us by powers (governments) beyond our control. The opening and title track – The Ghost of Tom Joad – reminds us that there are still plenty of people living in the margins who need somebody to fight on their behalf. Be it refugees at sea in the Mediterranean, Mexicans been sent back across the border, Syrians walking across Europe, Somalians been killed by warlords or a Zimbabwean fleeing a tyrant.
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where there’s a fight ‘gainst the blood and hatred in the air
Look for me Mom I’ll be there
Wherever there’s somebody fightin’ for a place to stand
Or decent job or a helpin’ hand
Wherever somebody’s strugglin’ to be free
Look in their eyes Mom you’ll see me.”Bruce Springsteen – The Ghost of Tom Joad – 1995
25th ANNIVERSARY ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME CONCERT
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band with Tom Morello – Ghost of Tom Joad – Madison Square Garden, NYC – 2009/10/29&3
What draws me to Springsteen? It’s a combination of his gripping raw lyrics, social consciousness and he is not afraid to have an opinion even if it means losing fans, and then there is his rollicking rock sound when he rips loose with the E-Street Band. I love it when he tackles the powers that be head on, with a hungry heart for the the downtrodden. Springsteen is not scared to tilt at windmills he even called out Trump as a “con man” on “That’s What Makes Us Great,” his new protest song with longtime collaborator Joe Grushecky.
Don’t tell me a lieAnd sell it as a factI’ve been down that road beforeAnd I ain’t going back
As long as Springsteen keeps churning them out I will keep listening and loving his music, long may the magic last . Here are a few of my favourite Springsteen Albums and Songs … was tough as always to keep the selection concise, especially the songs. Would love to hear your favourite songs and albums.
Peace and love to you all, know matter where you are born or roam
My Favourite Bruce Albums (in date order)
Darkness on the Edge of Town – 1978
The River – 1980
Nebraska – 1982
Ghost of Tom Joad – 1995
The Rising – 2002
Devils and Dust – 2005
Magic – 2007
My Favourite Bruce Songs (in no particular order) – some still bring a tear to my eye
Keeping it to 12 as I did with my Dylan listing 🙂
American Skins
Seeds – Live 75 – 85 version
Ghost of Tom Joad
Paradise
Missing – included on the soundtrack to the 1995 Sean Penn film The Crossing Guard
Blood Brothers
My Fathers House
Secret Garden
Trapped
Lift Me Up – A must listen, you will not believe how beautiful his voice is on this acoustic number
Countin’ on a Miracle – Acoustic version – Originally on The Rising
Devils and Dust
The last word from Bruce: “I open the door, I climb the stairs…,” completes this post Thanks 🙂
For more on Bruce – head over to, my article on his recently released autobiography Rreview-Born to Run – Autobiography
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