If I Poured All The Lies I

Let Me Tell You Something 'bout These Rich Uptown Folk," Said Cokie. "they Got Everything That Money Can Buy, Their Bank Accounts Are Fat, But They Ain't Happy. They Ain't Ever Gone Be Happy. You Know Why? They Soul Broke. And Money Can't Fix That, No Sir.

I Wasn't Certain Of Anything Anymore, Except That New Orleans Was A Faithless Friend And I Wanted To Leave Her.

My Art Teacher Had Said That If You Breathed Deeply And Imagined Something, You Could Be There. You Could See It, Feel It. During Our Standoffs With The Nkvd, I Learned To Do That. I Clung To My Rusted Dreams During The Times Of Silence. It Was At Gunpoint That I Fell Into Every Hope And Allowed Myself To Wish From The Deepest Part Of My Heart. Komorov Thought He Was Torturing Us. But We Were Escaping Into A Stillness Within Ourselves. We Found Strength There.

It Amazed Me How Some People Could Touch An Instrument And Create Something So Beautiful, And When Others Tried, Like Me, It Just Sounded Like Mangled Noise.

I Felt As If I Were Riding A Pendulum. Just As I Would Swing Into The Abyss Of Hopelessness, The Pendulum Would Swing Back With Some Small Goodness.