Tuesday, May 12, 2026

long talk gotta sleep

when I'm stressed
or too think-y 
I have two things that I love to listen to 

handpan drumbs
& RAIN 

they both
resonate 
wash through me with sound

when I was trying to decide what the vibration 
of ME is
when I heard the mbira
felt resonant 

then I found this thing
it's a lot of different SOUNDS 
it's a very resonant kalimba with the rattle board
& I don't know if it's songwriting instrument 
I just know that if playing an instrument 
every day was a THING 
THAT'S 
the one I want to play
it might be
PURELY 
ceremonial 

maybe it's meditation 

maybe it's therapy 

there's a physical-ness to the playing of it
I'm pretty beginner I just got a ten key
which might be limiting 
it's in pentatonic g
which as it turns out
is mostly the same notes on the handpan

I figure nothing I do would sound terrible 
I learn what I like
I'll be able to put together 
combinations that I like

nothing says
it has to be a rapid succession of notes
especially with the wa wa factor
it's only got two not four
of the bottle cap resonators
so I hope that doesn't lose too much of the 
RAIN sound

it's pretty compact
it's LIKE 
eight 
by
slightly less than four

when I was really little
I had bongos
I don't know where they came from
& I'm not saying that I 
COULD 
play the bongos 
at ANY point

BUT 
I know the way you need to move your wrist
to get the SOUND 
I LIKE 

right


I had a thing for tambourines
there was a certain sound
& of course 
you can use the wrist thing

the reason I have
the collection 
is about
certain sounds 

I find soothing 
& about the whole shamanic trance thing
I'm not sure if I've got good 
ENOUGH 
rhythm

I KNOW in ballet
the teacher
would try
to get us to tell her what the time was 

& I don't know what my problem was 
but I just could not put that together 
three four time
four four time

or
something 
I feel like
maybe I slide off beat somehow 
maybe my attention wanders

the walking on tip toes
MIGHT 
be autism
the SPINNING 
might
have been
STIMMING 

those where the things that led to the conclusion 
dance lessons 

BUT 
I loved dance
& I got it all twisted up with
BALLERINA 

BUT 
it was about
FEELING 
ENERGY 
in a particular way

& I can't spin anymore, REALLY 

I need to move the energy through my body

there's some way
that I need to
GROUND 
myself 

I
think I may be connecting things
that might seem
unconnected

I need to sleep 
I wasn't gonna stay up
so late tonight 
BUT 
my cat got out
& I couldn't sleep until he came back

then I got started
I feel like I 
might not be speaking in a way that
makes SENSE 
I feel like 
I'm speaking some kind of shorthand maybe 
that has to be deciphered 

I'm not trying to do that
I dreamed for a long time & it seemed like 
I was really working through stuff 

I came away with this 
WEIRD 
I want to call it awareness 

of like some kind of processing upgrade
like solid body something 
where the thing doesn't need spaces
it runs cooler
I'm not sure what I'm talking about 

at any rate
I didn't get up till evening 
I'm all turned around 
which probably 
isn't good 

or
maybe 
it is