My 1969 Ol’ Guitar

Strumming away the pain

Photo by Reverb

When life is too damn much
I pick up my old 1969 ocean blue Fender guitar
that always needs a tuning before playing.
I strum a simple, naïve C Major
earnest, unencumbered, brimming
with imagination, childlike innocence,
and possibilities.

Eventually, joy switches to lament
and I switch to C Minor
and its languishing tones
of longing, of love lost,
of ennui — the disquietude of my soul

Sometimes C Minor ruptures to DB Major a
melancholic key of choking back tears
a collection of deep, dispirited pitches.

Down-strum to C# Minor,
full of penance and mercy
to D Minor serious, pious
ruminating back again to
C# Minor and conversations
with lost loved ones,
conversations with G-d
atonement
atonement
at-one-ment.