Friday, August 31, 2007

no rhythm

When I was in junior high, I played the flute.
I went to band class every afternoon and the high point
of my band experience was learning how to play "What a feeling" -
The Irene Cara song from the movie Flashdance.
We girls loved it and I think our Olivia Newton John
headbands aided us in the playing of the song.
Some of our more hideous band moments took place
when we were off kilter, all going at our own pace,
losing sight of the other instruments and playing out of rhythm.
This often happened when we played the theme to Hogan's Heroes.
The flute section lived for Hogan's Heroes
because we carried the melody and we could rock this song.
We loved to pierce the ears of our listeners with
the high painful notes of the very punctual army-like rhythm.
We would take off with the chorus, feet tappy-tapping, and
the rest of the band would be chasing us down, trying to catch up.
Mr. Jantzen, our band teacher, would go nuts, eyes bulging, yelling,
"Slow it down! For heaven's sake, slow it down."
Because, believe me, there is nothing more painful than listening
to a junior high band with no rhythm.
And that is just how I feel about this season of my life.
The school year has flung me into a Hogan's Heroes moment and
I can't seem to find the rhythm.
Life is out there like the flutes, marching, running,
beating out this crazy pace and I am the rest of band trying to keep up.
It feels more like a cacophony than a symphony.
While I would like my rhythm to be seamless and light hearted,
it feels more helter skelter and shifty.
I need Mr. Jantzen to yell at someone to slow it down.
So at the moment I'm out of breath and secretly, in my heart of hearts,
hoping for a change of season, a change of rhythm, a change of song,
somewhere in the near future.
Something with a nice steady tempo, breaks for deep breathing,
and an easy melody....like the theme song to Taxi.
Now that was the jam.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Girl! What are you talking about? You've got rhythm! I think you're the one that taught me how to do the running man! You and Missy, that is. :)

Unknown said...

(found your blog thru Faith Chicks)

I can so relate to not having any rhythm right now. Nothing I do seems to fit, everything is boring, blah, blah, blah. Hoping it gets better soon - or maybe it's just a change of attitude I need.

Michelle

Unknown said...

Leslie has the best running man I've ever seen. I can still see her hair going forward and backward. I do the "white girl" for my son, Nate.