#SeasonalSonnets: 8th Dec.

Hello my lovely readers and welcome to a slightly earlier posting for my #SeasonalSonnets series than the last few. It's also a return to the usual format with a 'light drawing' that (hopefully) evokes the atmosphere of the poem. Today's entry was inspired by the absolutely lovely afternoon I had with two very dear friends, holed up in a Music Centre practice room with a piano and Sibelius (a composition programme). First we sang through the beginning of a truly incredible arrangement of Leonard Cohen's 'Halelujah' that Lizzie had composed for three altos (conveniently to fit our own voices!) Then we squeed - a very technical and very onomatopoeic term for the emotions we were feeling about its beauty - and then sang it again and again and again.

Once Lizzie had had enough of playing it on the piano, we lapsed into the territory that most jam sessions reach eventually (Disney), and gradually found our way to 'Part of Your World' from The Little Mermaid. Those of you who have read my journey in Walking by 2013 will probably be aware of how much this particular song means to me - because Ariel essentially wants to walk.

So far, so Jessi, but until today I hadn't heard it or sung it for rather a while, and I think I'd forgotten quite how deeply I feel the connection between my own experience and the lyrics. Thankfully, I managed to hold myself together in the practice room, but when we got in the car to drive back to Leam and Fiona put on her Disney playlist, I just lost it and cried - much to my mortification. That said, it made me realise how much I use music as a route out of my quotidian experience, and as a reminder of what's possible if I keep going...so I thought I should write about that.

I found this one particularly emotional, so I hope it makes sense, and I hope you enjoy.

8^th December

Thus far this month I’ve written about music,

and of the pool where I get exercise –

so here I’ll shove the two in one and use it

to give an explanation of my mind.

I’ve said before I’d like to be a mermaid,

as then I think I’d better help myself,

but really I’m already at that stage,

trapped in water that disturbs my mental health.

My one release is singing ‘bout the world

of which I’m desperate to be a part,

since music lifts me up above the whirl,

and is a salve for my oft-aching heart.

Today I s’pose I’m feeling lots like Ariel

and grateful that her song makes this life bearable.

 

Copyright Jessi Parrott December 2016