{"id":51,"date":"2007-06-16T12:43:39","date_gmt":"2007-06-16T17:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tomsmithmusic.com\/?p=51"},"modified":"2021-02-02T11:27:21","modified_gmt":"2021-02-02T16:27:21","slug":"august-1986","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tomsmithmusic.com\/?p=51","title":{"rendered":"August, 1986"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/v-JGZKRENM4?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tomsmithmusic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/06\/treestatue.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"125\" height=\"184\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-53\" \/>When my son was four years old (1986), we took our canoe to find blueberries at <a href=\"http:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps?-a&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;oe=utf-8&amp;q=thorndike+pond,+jaffrey+NH&amp;ll=42.85706,-72.055593&amp;spn=0.018089,0.030298&amp;t=k&amp;z=15&amp;iwloc=addr&amp;om=1\" title=\"Thorndike Pond, Jaffrey, NH\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the island in the lake<\/a> where we spend many lazy summer days. Although we were both awkward with our paddles, we did finally reach our goal. My son made a remarkable observation, which inspired me to write a poem.  Recently, reflecting upon that day as an older man with a grown son, I rewrote the poem and set it to music. I recorded this on an early Saturday morning in my normally noisy study room near Boston. If you listen carefully, you can hear the birds outside my window, and the cars whizzing by on the street. The video was recorded in my kitchen on Father&#8217;s Day, 2007.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>(EDIT Feb 2, 2021)<br \/>\nIn 2012, my friend King Yee posted a video of me doing this spoken word piece at the Roslindale Open Mike. By then, I decided I would call it &#8220;The Nature of Time (Statue of a Tree).&#8221;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/n9U_naPlcJg\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>August, 1986<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>-Tom Smith \u00a9 2007<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Dipping our paddles into the lake<br \/>\nin a manner more like dual monologue<br \/>\nthan scripted conversation,<br \/>\neach sentence punctuated by the clatter of shaft upon gunwale,<br \/>\nmy young son and I struggle to master a skill<br \/>\nnot required in Boston.<\/p>\n<p>Rounding Whittemore Island we pause,<br \/>\nseeking riches Mother West Wind<br \/>\nplaces within reach of squirrels, chipmunks,<br \/>\nand travelers whose memories of city streets and automobiles<br \/>\nare exhaled like those billowy clouds, sailing eastward.<\/p>\n<p>Blueberries!<br \/>\nbeneath a tall pine long void of seasonal change,<br \/>\nperched upon an island<br \/>\nbarely large enough to support its massive barkless base,<br \/>\nearthen gray,<br \/>\nmade smooth by sun and rain,<br \/>\na distant winter&#8217;s wind and snow,<br \/>\nand time.<\/p>\n<p>Broken yet dignified, this tree stylishly reflects afternoon sun,<br \/>\nwearing an apron of blueberries at the water&#8217;s edge.<br \/>\nReaching as if to break a foreseen fall,<br \/>\nhis thick fractured horizontal arms are ready<br \/>\nfor the next Jaffrey storm.<br \/>\nBrothers, this tree and I look into each other&#8217;s hearts<br \/>\nand understand.<\/p>\n<p>I think of time, and how for my young son<br \/>\ntime and change are disjoined;<br \/>\nand though there will be many more ways,<br \/>\nhow this way we will never pass again.<br \/>\nTiny arm reaching to gather a fistful of blueberries,<br \/>\nlifting his finger my son declares,<br \/>\n&#8220;Look Daddy look, a statue of a tree!&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When my son was four years old (1986), we took our canoe to find blueberries at the island in the lake where we spend many&#8230;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"location":[],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomsmithmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomsmithmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomsmithmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomsmithmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomsmithmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomsmithmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6622,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomsmithmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions\/6622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomsmithmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomsmithmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomsmithmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomsmithmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomsmithmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Flocation&post=51"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}