You stand up. You keep going.

Worked at the bar last night. Between customers, I worked on my letter to Tait and listened to the different musicians playing on the open mic. The last slot of the night: a trio from the city; we knew the same circle of people and places(in particular Justin & fam at the Shadow Lounge). Violin, guitar, drums. Simply put: they blew. me. away. My goodness. Luckily things were slow at the bar so I could grab a stool and really pay attention. String instruments give me such goose bumps. This guy could play. He threw his entire body into the action of sound. It took me a minute to realize the guitar player/singer was missing a hand. They were just incredible. They opened their set with Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” (covered by one Jeff Buckley). The songs had wonderful builds–back and forth chords swelling, guitar facing violin and violin answering. Thank goodness for the long, long work day. Seeing that made every hour melt away. I walked home with twitching digits, shaking for a pen.

Exchanged contact info with the violin player. He’s been looking for a poet to work with.