I don’t even have the words for how much this piece made me feel, made me stand up and read it pacing back and forth in my bedroom at 5am. Harmony, you are such an event. Reading from this Substack, one of the greatest joys in my life at this very difficult time, can sometimes be so challenging that I move on and wait for the next piece. Sometimes I don’t feel smart enough or invested in jazz enough to sustain. But baby, far more often than not, I am printing these pieces out to reread them in cafes and crying at the sheer magnitude. You are indescribable with that pen. I never knew how badly I needed to read you writing about love and heartbreak in this way. Can’t even begin to tell you how much it moved me. Printing it out now to revisit. You have to let me make a portrait of you one of these days. Like, forreal.
Thank you to everyone commenting, I'm overwhelmed by this response to writing I thought about never even sharing, and grateful. I might just end up writing more about love through music than I ever thought I would
Who do you love? Do you love who you should or who you desire? Is the slow burning ember preferable to the roaring fire? Will the dizzying array of emotions eventually cease to cause that initial commotion...as a roaring wave recedes back to the ocean.
Maybe it’s a matter of timing...youthful enthusiasm ready for priming .... hormonally fueled passion seems to be the eternal fashion which leaves a gash in our collective souls...rendering us to now find who will once again make us whole
Through the ages, griots and bards have clamored that which has eluded the sages- that love is a form of insanity or madness that fluctuates between gladness and sadness yet is constantly avoided and pursued...don’t we misconstrue those who lack, deride and worship the Mack, applaud but worry about those who got their groove back?
Listening to Sadé on a rainy day can appear as a balm to soothe the chaos amidst the fray...of the maelstrom below the calm surface while we struggle to find the meaning and purpose of why does the beloved makes us both smile and cry? Or do we choose to gain solace from the joy/rain and search up Onyx to slam away thoughts of sunshine/pain?
To love, to follow one’s heart is a form of art ... that uses a canvas that isn’t blank and colors that have run together due to previous stormy weather...held up by a shaky easel in dim light while we hope and pray that the portrait is the same as the day turns to night...
I think this is the best thing I've ever read.. Can't thank you enough for sharing it. Still thinking of and praying for everyone whose home is in that part of the world.
This essay beautifully captures the interplay between love and creative freedom. The line, "Knowing now what I didn’t then; I will do it all over again, is a powerful reminder that even heartbreak and loss fuel transformation. Brilliantly crafted this, a great read. Thank you.
“Haven’t we managed to become the signs without losing ourselves?” Yours is the second reference today to Pessoa’s Book of Disquiet, which I placed on hold at the library. Connections like this are bringing me joy. Thank you for your words. They always move me.
"We know truth, not only by reason, but also by the heart, and it is from this last that we know first principles; and reason, which has nothing to do with it, tries in vain to combat them. The skeptics who desire truth alone labor in vain." Blaise Pascal
I don’t even have the words for how much this piece made me feel, made me stand up and read it pacing back and forth in my bedroom at 5am. Harmony, you are such an event. Reading from this Substack, one of the greatest joys in my life at this very difficult time, can sometimes be so challenging that I move on and wait for the next piece. Sometimes I don’t feel smart enough or invested in jazz enough to sustain. But baby, far more often than not, I am printing these pieces out to reread them in cafes and crying at the sheer magnitude. You are indescribable with that pen. I never knew how badly I needed to read you writing about love and heartbreak in this way. Can’t even begin to tell you how much it moved me. Printing it out now to revisit. You have to let me make a portrait of you one of these days. Like, forreal.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I am honored, thank you. I hesitated some in sharing this on main so means a lot.
Thank you to everyone commenting, I'm overwhelmed by this response to writing I thought about never even sharing, and grateful. I might just end up writing more about love through music than I ever thought I would
That was beautiful - in how it was written, in the life conveyed, in the emotions evoked, in the empathy realized, in the hearts changed. Thank you.
Powerful and sensitive writing. Thanks.
Yeah... this is one of those ones. Let me go and check out some of your books...
Who do you love? Do you love who you should or who you desire? Is the slow burning ember preferable to the roaring fire? Will the dizzying array of emotions eventually cease to cause that initial commotion...as a roaring wave recedes back to the ocean.
Maybe it’s a matter of timing...youthful enthusiasm ready for priming .... hormonally fueled passion seems to be the eternal fashion which leaves a gash in our collective souls...rendering us to now find who will once again make us whole
Through the ages, griots and bards have clamored that which has eluded the sages- that love is a form of insanity or madness that fluctuates between gladness and sadness yet is constantly avoided and pursued...don’t we misconstrue those who lack, deride and worship the Mack, applaud but worry about those who got their groove back?
Listening to Sadé on a rainy day can appear as a balm to soothe the chaos amidst the fray...of the maelstrom below the calm surface while we struggle to find the meaning and purpose of why does the beloved makes us both smile and cry? Or do we choose to gain solace from the joy/rain and search up Onyx to slam away thoughts of sunshine/pain?
To love, to follow one’s heart is a form of art ... that uses a canvas that isn’t blank and colors that have run together due to previous stormy weather...held up by a shaky easel in dim light while we hope and pray that the portrait is the same as the day turns to night...
I think this is the best thing I've ever read.. Can't thank you enough for sharing it. Still thinking of and praying for everyone whose home is in that part of the world.
I'm speechless with the depth and viscerality of this piece. It's probably the best thing I've read on Substack and I wil definitelty be revisiting.
Thank you for your vulnerability and dedication to the magic of love and life in words. I needed to read this.
This essay beautifully captures the interplay between love and creative freedom. The line, "Knowing now what I didn’t then; I will do it all over again, is a powerful reminder that even heartbreak and loss fuel transformation. Brilliantly crafted this, a great read. Thank you.
“Haven’t we managed to become the signs without losing ourselves?” Yours is the second reference today to Pessoa’s Book of Disquiet, which I placed on hold at the library. Connections like this are bringing me joy. Thank you for your words. They always move me.
"We know truth, not only by reason, but also by the heart, and it is from this last that we know first principles; and reason, which has nothing to do with it, tries in vain to combat them. The skeptics who desire truth alone labor in vain." Blaise Pascal
your mother was right!
Magic words, thank you