The Kitchen Musician ~ May, June 2020

Hello friends,

Today is day 66 of my COVID-19 self-isolation, but you can join me virtually in the kitchen where I will sing “When the Light Returns Again” – a new song inspired by the loss, fear and uncertainty that so many of us are experiencing as we try to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe and our hopes alive for the future.

Index
  NEWS:
  THIS MONTH’S MUSIC: “When the Light Returns Again”
  UPCOMING SHOWS
  FEATURED NON-PROFIT: Greater Boston Food Bank

Photo taken on my daily walk this week. Hope in a basket.

NEWS

Like every musician on the planet, all of my gigs through the summer have been cancelled or rescheduled, and I wouldn’t count on my fall gigs happening either. That said, I have three live streaming shows coming up in the next two weeks: Club Passim Campfire Festival (May 26th), Dublin, NH Community Center (May 29th) and Cheryl Perreault’s “Friday Night Wake-up Call” (June 5th.) In addition, I am working out the details for a live broadcast from The Virginia Thurston Healing Garden (TBD). Click Upcoming Shows for details.

I was excited to see that my video “How to Make (and Play) a Krummyhorn” was viewed on Facebook over 8500 times since I published it four weeks ago. I smile to think of all of those quarantined kids around the world who are playing happy tunes for their (hopefully grateful) parents.

THIS MONTH’S MUSIC
When the Light Returns Again

“When the Light Returns Again” © 2020 Tom Smith (ASCAP)
Lyrics in the comments below.

In last month’s Kitchen Musician I shared a poem simply titled “COVID-19”. I wrote it late one night to exorcise my feelings of sadness, loss, fear and anxiety as I try to make sense of current events. Most of the time, poems make very bad songs, but sometimes they can be re-invisioned with a melody. That was the case with this one, now with a new title – “When the Light Returns Again.”

“Will we change the way we live?
When the light returns again?”

I hope so.

I send a big thanks to my friend Cosy Sheridan for helping me in the final stages of writing this song. If you don’t know Cosy’s music, I strongly encourage you to visit her web store and purchase from her huge catalogue of great music.

A POEM: The Old Farmer

I love my daily walks. Margo and I are fortunate to have some wooded trails nearby. One of them goes behind the Newbridge on the Charles senior life center. These walks do wonders to adjust my perspective, and to bring me down from feelings of desperation born from living during this pandemic. That is where I took the Robin’s Eggs photo at the top of this page, and the photo of the “old farmer” below. He inspired a more hopeful poem.

The Old Farmer
© 2020 Tom Smith

   He drove a Farmall 300
   To shear the earth in straight long rows
   An hour down
   An hour back

   Today it’s the two button folding model
   With the earth rising to accept his plough
   An hour down
   An hour back

I too am an old farmer – and I gratefully accept those accommodations when the earth rises to accept my plough. Let’s keep planting with whatever gifts we are granted, and tools we have at our command.

To borrow from a favorite Richard Wilbur poem:
“As when a set mind, blessed by doubt,
Relaxes into mother-wit.
Flowers, I said, will come of it.”

Steady on, my friends!

Tom

(If so inclined, I invite you to leave a comment by scrolling to the end of this page.)

UPCOMING SHOWS:
Click this link to view upcoming shows

FEATURED NON-PROFIT:
Greater Boston Food Bank

The Greater Boston Food Bank “works passionately to end hunger across Eastern Massachusetts by providing our neighbors in need the healthy food and resources they need to thrive… Your support enables GBFB to distribute healthy food to neighbors in need as well as nutrition programs and resources for sustained, healthy lives and healthy communities.” The GBFB has really stepped up its support for families adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic – and there are a great many of them.