I rock against the back of a soft chair. Scuffed shoes.
Jamaica Plain housing project — age 3, going on 4
On the phonograph, a man sings with a guitar.
I blow a harmonica in, out.
On the album cover, a Negro man holds a guitar, black strap across a white shirt back, facing a burnt-out house.
Charred studs reach the night sky like witch fingers.
A brick chimney stands alone. A clock, glass face shattered by fire, sits on the mantle.
Toward the horizon, a passenger train shines moonlit silver against a prairie grass sea.
Train windows glow warm against the night.
I make music with the man.
# # #
Charles DegelmanWriter, editor, and educator based in Los Angeles. He's also played a lot of music. Degelman teaches writing at California State University, Los Angeles.
Degelman lives in the hills of Hollywood with his companion on the road of life, four cats, assorted dogs, and a coterie of communard brothers and sisters.
Characterizations:
well written
Great imagery, Charles, haunting, melancholy. It makes me think of a folk sing we used to sing at camp:
Freight train, freight train, going round the bend. Freight train, freight train, coming back again.
Please don’t tell her what train I’m on, so she won’t know where I’ve gone.
Thanks, Betsy. The folk song was probably “Freight Train,” written by Elizabeth Cotton. It became a folk ‘standard’ in the early 60s because it was beautiful and because of the unique finger-picking style that Ms Cotton had developed. Here she is, playing “Freight Train” with that unique style.
https://youtu.be/IUK8emiWabU
Charlie – that’s the song! Though not quite the way my camp counselor sang it (she might have done the same finger-picking; I haven’t heard it in 55 years). The words were slightly different, but definitely the same tune. Thank you for bringing back this wonderful memory and enhancing it for me with its origin.
This is a wonderful RetroFlash, Charlie. It takes me back to two stories you wrote in the early days of Retrospect, “A Brief Audible History,” and “Recollections: Rocked in Time,” in which you talk about your harmonica playing as a little boy. Newer readers might want to check those out too.
Thanks, Suzy. Yes, my musical history did begin with that episode and that harmonica, played with no technique but plenty of enthusiasm!
Your first memory was playing a harmonica to a phonograph record, while looking at the cover–wow. You were a very gifted child or else had a late first memory I think! Great image and memory. Your bio says you also have played a lot of music so those roots run deep. What was the album?
Hi, Khati, we moved from that housing project in the summer before I turned four, so that dated the memory for me. When I ‘played’ the harmonica, I was simply breathing in and out with enough pressure to vibrate the harmonica reeds.
The record cover remained a vivid image in my mind, but I don’t recall ever seeing it after we moved. Knowing my parents, it was possibly a Josh White album (meaning a collection of 78s). He was recording in the 1940s, as were Sonny Terry (harp) and Brownie McGee. We also had recordings from that era by Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly but I don’t recall any of the covers.
All the senses beautifully explored, Charles, a memory that foretells things to come.
Thanks, Marian. I did often recall that image and those early harmonica days when I was toiling away learning chords and practicing scales.
I followed Suzy’s lead and went back to those two earlier stories. Indeed, you wrote about this before, especially at greater length in “Recollections: Rocked in Time.” Haunting and evocative, both; I love comparing them, seeing what you chose and what you left out for your 100-word flash. Brilliant. I wonder what you’d choose for a six-word flash. It’s something I’ve been meaning to try.
Hmmmm, Barbara, lessee…
Boy, harp, lonesome train, guitar man. Not very evocative. Does a six-word flash require a verb?
The most famous one, generally attributed to Hemingway: “For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.” I have yet to come up with anything nearly as evocative.
Poetic and evocative, a glimpse of our young Charlie making music on a moonlit night, lovely!
Charles, I could hear that harmonica being blown in and out as young children do. The story is poetic,. with evocative imagery.
Thanks, Laurie. Yep, you got it. Harmonica being played with much gusto but NO technique!
Thanks, Dana, although the moonlight was restricted to the album cover. Hope that don’t dash your image!
Well, metaphoric moonlit!
Works for me, Dana!
I especially like the final line, which can be subject to interpretation and foretell so much.
Thanks, Dale. I have played music with many men and lots of women, too. However, I have NEVER played music with The Man. I know you get my drift ;-).
Beautiful imagery, Charles. And, as with others, I’ve now gone back to your earlier stories for greater context. (Thanks, Suzy!) But this RetroFlash is so charmingly evocative all by itself.
Thanks, John. I’m appreciative of your diligence in revisiting some of our past prompts!