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photo via Picryl/CCO Public domain Mark 1.0
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The Problem With Serenading Canadian Geese
………………..Ducks in the millpond, geese in the clover.
………………..Tell those pretty girls I’m comin’ over.
……………………………………………………………….(an old song)
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They are gathering now
all along the shoreline.
Their bones sing October!
Their wings cry out Go south!
I walk with my banjo
down to the water’s edge.
What can I play for geese
who carry their own tunes
and never stop singing
long enough to notice
my scratching on the beach,
well intended, but just
out of reach? —the life story
of most all musicians
unless you are Mozart
or Cassandra Wilson.
But anyway, I sit
and sing them sad love songs,
because all love songs are,
at least if they’re good ones.
The Canadas call out,
impervious to me
and to the few odd ducks,
just listening today.
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Joel Glickman taught music including jazz history and the jazz band at Northland College, Ashland Wisconsin, from 1974 until retirement in 2017, where he has resumed teaching about jazz again, part time. He has written and published poetry over a wide range of subjects. Primarily a classical clarinetist and folk singer-song writer and banjo player, his jazz and saxophone skills lag behind these. He resides in Ashland with wife Susan and their Bichon, Madeline.
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Listen to the 1971 recording of Doc & Merle Watson performing “The Tragic Romance” [Universal Music Group]
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