I live in a lovely development sandwiched in a retail corridor...highway entrances close by...it was built on the grounds of the old Roosevelt Raceway...then flea market...I live on the earth once pounded by the hooves of majestic racehorses...then bargain seekers looking for schmattas...and so my curiosity was piqued with an article in Newsday earlier this month about a music festival that took place here in 1974...NY Summersault '74...an impressive line-up...Jesse Colin Young...the Beach Boys...Joni Mitchell...Crosby, Stills, Nash and (a late arriving via helicopter) Young...set lists to swoon over...and suddenly when sitting on my terrace these waning summer days...I no longer hear the distant roar of the Meadowbrook Parkway...but instead hear the lilting voice of Joni...who not only performed solo but would join CSNY for exquisite 5-part harmonies...being a writer...a poet...I often go back to Joni's music...her lyrics...genius...recently she was able to perform at the Newport Folk Festival...after many years struggling since a brain aneurysm...it was miraculous to see her performing "Both Sides Now" in the clip circulating throughout social media...her vocal register lower...the pauses...the gut-wrenching delivery of someone who has finally grown into the lyrics written in youth...if you have not seen it please google it...you will be reduced to tears...and so these days when I walk the roadways here...I think of this music and smile...and write...hoping to see what my poems might mean down the road...looking back...
