They’re lived in four-minute snippets
the past made present with notes
from a now silent guitar and
words from a dead singer

Memories dusted off and polished
to a high gloss without even trying
leaving out the forgotten sadness
or embellishing it with lies

Verses and refrains conjure places
bringing back people and emotions
as choruses take us back to our pasts
reminding us who we were

It is entirely possible to morph
from twelve to thirty-two
in a four-minute span
at the start of the right song

As the world grows colder
these arias and chords of dissonance
become a warm shelter
inviting us to sit and listen to our lives

Jim has three memoirs, Cretin Boy, Dirty Shirt and The Portland House. He also has five poetry collections, Thoughts from a Line at the DMV, Genetically Speaking, On a Road, Written Life and Reciting from Memory. Jim is a past Poet Laureate for the Village of Wales, WI. Visit: https://sites.google.com/view/jimlandwehr/home