morningambassador’s posthaven

This post started out as an idea for a poem - digging a hole, something like this:

"The hole I dig grows deeper, the tools more effective.
It's not a burden to remove the dirt from the space;
It wants to leave, seemingly - nothing in its place.
The shovel lifts itself; I barely have a task at all.
I don't want it that deep; someone might fall.
It might be me; should I care about that?
I'm following an odd rabbit; should leave a warning mat.
Imagine what treasures I might've found if I'd paid attention;
... my kingdom for a sieve is the lamenting intention.

What will I leave behind... breadcrumbs to find my way back?
Some memory, imagination or hard cold real fact?
If I allow this hole that wants to dig itself,
Will I find out more about this self,
Or just play around wasting time
Is that really such a crime,
But I'm meant to do, to create, to understand and listen,
It's easy to note the good days; the whole world glistens
But in the hole it will be different; concentration on nothing
And velvet black.
It sounds peaceful; yet I hope to find my way back."

by Morning Ambassador

Then I started to think about what music might support this immature first draft of a poem
I was focusing on the word, 'Dig' - which most recently conjured thoughts of my favorites,
The Brian Jonestown Massacre's film, but I went back further to "Dig A Pony" by the Beatles -
the word play, the radiance, the poignancy and melody.

It took me back to the mid-1970's when N.S. and I rented "Let It Be" for college movie on the schedule.
I watched it all the way through during multiple viewings every day of that week, some of it from the front row of that wonderful theater of my memory. And what I came to see, more and more clearly was that the film being made in reality was not necessarily the film that was envisioned, except for the fact that it was meant to document what was going on those days in the band. And that turned out to be a gradual and bittersweet dissolution by polarization. My opinion, based on nonscientific studies.

People come toward each other and move away all the time. But there are specific incidents when it's more momentous, representing more than a simple parting of the ways. All eyes are focused and there before us unfolds a mythological scene acted out with real people, human beings.

The connection between the way that I dig holes during parts of days or life and the song, "Dig a Pony,' had to do with that scene on the rooftop of the Apple Studio Building. Holes just naturally dig themselves sometimes. The effort or action, the task at hand has more to do with stopping it from happening than doing what comes naturally. And who can say which is better? We do learn from dark places, sometimes even more than from the light where we can 'celebrate anything we want.' But we must come back when all is said and done and 'radiate everything we are.' Or the scene will remain, incomplete.

"Dig A Pony" by The Beatles

"I dig a pony
Well you can celebrate anything you want
Yes you can celebrate anything you want
Ooh

I do a road hog
Well you can penetrate any place you go
Yes you can penetrate any place you go
I told you so

All I want is you
Everything has got to be just like you want it to
Because-

I pick a moon dog
Well you can radiate everything you are
Yes you can radiate everything you are
Oh now

I roll a stoney
Well you can imitate everyone you know
Yes you can imitate everyone you know
I told you so

All I want is you
Everything has got to be just like you want it to
Because-

I feel the wind blow
Well you can indicate everything you see
Yes you can indicate anything you see
Oh now

I load a lorry
Well you can syndicate any boat you row
Yeah you can syndicate any boat you row
I told you so

All I want is you
Everything has got to be just like you want it to
Because-"

Side note: I realized that John Lennon would have been 70 come this October 9th, had he lived. Had he not been assassinated. He is missed. I miss him. Holes. Canary in a coal mine. Sensitivity is a necessary organ of the human race as a whole. One of the first to go in a difficult situation. Easy to fall without reading the mat.