Failure Loves Company

Last week while in the checkout aisle, my iPod played Death Cab For Cutie’s “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” and I didn’t have the ability to change it or stop it.  I was about to break down until a cashier waved me over and that helped dam the tears.  I used to avoid triggers, sidestep them or run, but in order to remove their power, I make myself deal with them, face them head on.  It happened again in K-Mart.  I played Iron & Wine’s Newport Folk Festival set, the set I listened to after my failed set at Quimby’s, sitting in a chair alone in a living room while it rained, the set I listened to after my ex-wife yelled at me about having too much fun on the road.  The Iron & Wine version of “Such Great Heights” is in that set, the second song we danced to.  My arms full, I let it happen.  The tears wanted to come but I didn’t let them escape.

This is “Marching Bands Of Manhattan”.  The poem is not published yet.  Enjoy this on a rainy evening, in a room with little light and arms to hold you.