Oyster Knife at Dawn

Woke up early this morning, thinking of all the things we’ve yet to do before my new album is launched in March.  (!)  In a recent news piece, Tom Waits talked about his new CD and said that actually making a new album is like fixing a feast (I’ll paraphrase): writing & preparing new tunes; playing, perfecting, recording them; presentation & packaging; putting it all together. But he went on to say that what comes after- getting your music out for the world to hear- is all “washing dishes”.

And that is where I am now; tasks, like dishes, piled up high on formidably long to do lists:  tasks for reviewers, distributors, publicity, promotion, radio, booking…   As odious as the business part of music often feels, this is when and where I remind myself that, yes- having record label support would mean having a team do this for you. Sleeping through the night. But it would also mean someone telling you what songs to write, how to sing them, what to wear, where to perform,…  And you KNOW I’d be complaining about that!  Ha;)!

Oyster Knife

The world is your oyster
salty, voluminous,
succulent.  Hinged and waiting

aductor jaws guarding
tight- encrusted ridges marking time, for one
lustrous

pearl, well-loved, to show
-itself, sweet. 

By day
time to grip the weighted round, balance in
hand, push to slide the blade past
shut.

Split rock.

Work hope,
side to side, pry-cut spine past
‘wait and see.’

Remembering:  Sun greets first
the edge you sharpened
most.

© 2012 Tara Linda. V.5

“Nada es Imposible.”  And this is where I stop to remember

the treasured words of novelist,

playwright Zora Neale Hurston.

“I do not weep at the world – I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.”