Voice Note #28 - Magic

Are you open to it?

For B

Here’s the thing about magic —
it comes, often
out of the blue
and that’s what makes it
so devastating
and hopelessly grand
You think you only get the one
but lightning strikes
a hundred times every second
Why, nearly every time it rains
and storms, in fact
hail abundant
and anyway I probably should have said before
that magic comes in many forms
besides, you only ever get as much
as you already have
(which may surprise you to know
is more than you think)
What is it in that poem
about loving being so short?
You have so much time.
What are you going to do
while you wait?

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I left my flat for the first time today in the early afternoon, watching the new year unfurl amongst sleepy neighbors and gray clouds and more traffic than expected. The last time I sent you something, the year was coming to a close. Now it’s just beginning and I’m somewhere else entirely. (In this city it’s still January 1st, four minutes to spare). I was meant to write you again a year ago today, but at the time things were changing fast for me, and I was in the middle of some big shifts. A story for another time.

In the meantime, as the year carries us all into a new chapter (an inevitable fresh slate, whether we like it or not), I’m finding myself craving for a sense of refreshment, raring to get out of my comfort zone as often as I can. This comes in big and small ways, like new music to listen to. 2022 was a year of excitement and newness and turbulence and growing pains, and when life gets chaotic I tend to listen to the same pop songs on end — a comfort thing. I’m starting off this year listening to two LPs my Tita Aya loves: Ascenseur Pour L'échafaud by Miles Davis and Protection by Massive Attack. Tonight I also put on The 1975’s Being Funny in a Foreign Language in the shower and genuinely enjoyed it from start to finish.

Send music my way in the comments thread — all-time favorite albums, playlists you like, artists or genres you’ve been getting into, music that got you through last year or really any year — and let’s talk about what we’re listening to.