​     POETRY  -  
              With a Theme   of Time 

"Have room for the balm of the blues"

                                         Photo by Weebly                                    

      Meter Matters
  by Corey Weinstein

                It’s all
                in beats
              to the bar,
                2 or 4.
              Two beats
              click off
                Tic toc
                Tic toc
               It’s 2/4.
Say it each one, teh as in testify.
       Four beats click off
          Tic teh toc teh
          Tic teh toc teh
 It’s four beats to the bar, 4/4.
 
Sing “Motherless Child” in 2/4
       Some feel motherless
       Some feel motherless
       Long way from home
       Long way from home
Forsaken tragedy of slave times,
tearful two beat dirge, each foot
in front of the other, trudge through,
       Like I’m almos’ done
       Like I’m almos’ done
Grievous gloom of children sold away,
a mother’s breast-cramped yearning,
singing the straight truth of misery.
 
Sing “Motherless Child” in 4/4.
Have room for the balm of the blues,
syncopation that relieves the toil,
lifts the foot with a back beat,
turns a slog into a shuffle,
weeps with a nuance of hope,
hints at a smile of got-through-this-before,
demands sidewise duck and grind,
a dance, not a march, not a slog.
You won’t hear a blues in 2/4.

Vertical Divider

​A retired physician, Corey Weinstein is a musician, poet, songwriter and clarinet player. He has published two CDs of original music inspired by the Klezmer and Yiddish stage musical traditions and led Umzist, a Klezmer band playing benefits for Jewish elders for more than a decade. He wrote and performed at various venues a singspiel, Erased: Babi Yar, the SS and Me to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the massacre at Babi Yar. He plays clarinet in the Or Shalom Jewish Community choir, with The Jamberries Jazz Band at Shabbat services at Rhoda Goldman Plaza, and with any chamber music group he can find. He lives in the Ingleside of San Francisco with his wife of 37 years, Pat Skala.​

Other works in this issue:
Poetry:
​Chamber Music Magic

Vertical Divider

We Welcome Comments