Waiting for the Shakuhachi, I Practice with What I Have
The tone feels round on shorter bottles,
which more closely resemble my shape.
Longnecks pitch lower, while the emptied
pinot requires more controlled air flow.
My grooved fingers fumble in their
search for meaning. I know this silence,
but that one requires more study.
Cool air stumbles in
through the trees.
Ah, autumn’s return.
This first appeared on The Zen Space. Thank you, Marie Marshall, for publishing my work!
O at the Edges 
“Waiting For The Shakuhachi” is the perfect name for your ensuing post – Pulitzer Prize biography!
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It seems to be the metaphor for my life!
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Very poetic metaphor, if one is going to have one…
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Still, I struggle with patience.
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Then don’t struggle with it. Let your impatience drive your improvement. And if your impatience to improvement ratio is ever unsatisfactory, write poems about it! Nothing but a win/win for your creative practice…
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I like the win/win scenario!
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People give in to their conscious minds at times when their subconscious will get them through. The practical everyday mind is “designed” for fight or flight (“negative”interpretations), while the subconscious is tuned to mulling things over and solving (“positive” interpretations). Knowing this, it is easier to tilt one’s creative practice towards improvement, passion, and joy through positivity than one might expect. The great geniuses always seem to be the depressive, pessimistic types. But that is not always the case.
Intense negativity has driven much achievement, but so has intense positivity. As long as it is focused and well strategized, our impatience can be a major blessing, if we so choose.
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My subconscious guides my writing, and I prefer that over a planned, intrusive process. But life! While I agree that everything is fuel for the pen, some facets demand resolution or discretion. If only this were not so.
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Then write about the resolution/discretion. Nothing like a good allegory to mask one’s Freudian tendencies…
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Oh, I do. The timing is sometimes off…
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Curious … the Shakuhachi having since arrived, and you having since spent time with it, … has this enhanced what you can do with bottles?
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My proficiency at emptying them hasn’t improved at all, but I can live with that!
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My proficiency with articulation would seem due a bit of practice, refinement … but I am grinning at your response nevertheless.
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I must admit that while I haven’t attempted to sound notes with bottles for the past year, I have emptied a few.
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How does one improve upon perfection?
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That is an excellent way to look upon it!
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Very belatedly, you’re welcome. It’s brilliant, it shines, the last three lines could even stand alone. Enough said.
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I shall empty a bottle for you!
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