both sides now....

ah...joni mitchell is 70 today...i must admit, i was a little late in the game, as they say, in becoming a true fan...yes, joni's lyrics and haunting soprano formed much of the background noise of the 70's for me...but the true beauty and genius of her poetry didn't hit me till later...and maybe that's how it should have been...without sufficient life experience, love and loss how could any of the words resonate so deeply?...i also admire that joni is more than a musician, and poet, but also a painter...a renaissance woman, if you will...although as a poet, joni's lyrics have been painting pictures for me for years...haven't you heard "circle game" in your own head at some life event?...or "chelsea morning" in a brilliant summer sunrise?...and so when i am back at the game of writing today...poetry, that is...and i feel discouraged when buried in a sea of rejections for a new manuscript...like i keep banging my head in a wall hoping for a different result...i'll instead think of joni...and the longevity and legacy of her writing...and painting...and start again...the november sky will always be painted with her haunting lyric, "see the geese in chevron flight flapping and facing on before the snow, they've got the urge for going, they've got the wings to go"...as it should be...