Redtree Times

Haven of Spirit— Coming to the Kada Gallery, Erie

No man is an island.

Or so said John Donne. He was probably right. I guess the best you can hope for is to be at the very end of a long and skinny peninsula that is extremely difficult to reach by any means.

You can still be got. But, by gum, folks got to work to get to you.

Sounds pretty good right now. You can probably guess that I’m in a bit of a foul mood this AM. Tired and a little cranky with a lot on my plate as I prep for my Kada Gallery show that opens next Friday, November 4.

Makes me glad that I do what I do. I can sequester myself away at the end of my figurative peninsula and not have to put on a happy face for anyone. I used to have jobs where wearing that smiley face was a valuable asset, where the task was to make others comfortable. I was adept at masking emotions on those cranky, disjointed days. It might have been my only real talent.

Might still be.

But on mornings where I don’t feel like smiling or making nice, it’s a damn fine job that lets me set aside that mask and just scowl and mutter a little. Here’s a little song from Dan Reeder that sums it all up pretty well. It’s called Just Leave Me Alone Today. He records on John Prine’s Oh Boy label and is very much in a similar mode. I played him here a couple of years ago with his song Clean Elvis.

Of course, it you’re not cranky this morning and want something a little more upbeat, I’ve also included his Bomp Bomp. It made me smile this morning without reaching for my mask. 

And that’s a good thing on any day.