THE SOUND OF 2015: SURVIVAL

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Per tradition, I made a playlist for the past year. You can enjoy or scoff at it via the playlist below (or also on Spotify). Subsequent years can be found here: The Sound of 2014 and The Sound of 2013.

This is probably the most eclectic playlist I’ve ever put together. Hat tip to Spotify for that. It’s also the longest so far of my annual playlists. Narrowing down the list to these 32 tracks was difficult. Music got me through a lot of shit this year: an abusive relationship, anxiety and self-harm, survival (though, at times, it felt like barely as much), endings and beginnings, and a whole lot of slogging through the in between. Perhaps more on all of that later… In the meantime, I’ll let the music tell the story.

Cheers to brighter days in 2016, friends.

HAIKU: CRAIGSLIST PERSONALS

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Craigslist personals:
graveyard for broken hearts and
unfulfilled desires.

W4m cries text
soaked with red wine and late nights,
still looking for him.

Lonely, just moved here
seeks a friend and maybe more.
Is anyone there?

Woman in the park,
he thinks you could be the one,
but he lost his nerve.

Unhappily wed
craves that missing piece–a spark
of connection–hope.

Here’s a toast to you,
the lonely, misplaced, and blue.
May your dreams come true.

ZELDA WILLIAMS: MOONRISE ON THE LAKE

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if happiness seems impossible to find, please hold on to the possibility of hope, faint though it may be. Because I promise you, there’re enough nights under the same yellow moon for all of us to share, no matter how or when you find your way there.

HAIKU: HOTEL ANXIETY

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loic-djim-38013

Photo by Loic Djim on Unsplash

I used to be so
Comfortable in my mind,
Alone in my skin.

Somewhere, a seismic
Shift jostled loose the threads of
My independence.

My heartbeat echoes,
The only company here
In my hotel room.

I crack the window
Because I can’t breathe. Gasping
And grasping for life.

Home is hours away,
But it feels like light years now.
Are they missing me?

I asked for a double,
One bed for me and one for
My anxiety.

We say our goodnights,
And then I switch off the lights.
The empty floods in.

Hang on until morn.
The sun always warms the soul.
Hang on. Just hang on.

HAIKU: KING MIDAS

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Lonely King Midas
Packs his belongings in bags
And boxes with care.

Lost his golden touch,
A godly gift expired
Gives way to freedom.

So many years spent
Isolated and stagnant,
Fearing his own hands.

The penance was paid
With a sacrificial lamb–
The ultimate price.

The king had lost much,
Indeed, but he stands at the
Door of hope and dreams.

His hand no longer
Heavy with the weight of gold–
A lonely metal.

At the threshold, she
Waits, a patient smile and an
Outstretched, fearless hand.

As skin touches skin,
There’s a flash of memory,
Spark of chemistry.

Midas remembers love;
He finds himself reflected
In her deep brown eyes.

Hand in hand, they glow
Not from a golden touch but
Because they found home.