Tag Archives: Janis Joplin

MISS HALTER TOPS AND SENSIBLE SHOES

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Some day I hope I can dare to be a little risque, live it up, wear some skimpy halter top, and cut off short shorts.  I want to crank it up a bit, play the music loud and shake my butt while I wash my van out on the driveway.  So what if it is almost October?  The weather is warm – 19 degrees Celsius.

I swam in an unheated pool in Arizona in February.  This would be a piece of cake.  But the thing is I’m Miss Sensible Shoes.  While Miss Halter Tops is shaking her vibes, I’m in my basement slicing Roma tomatoes for the dehyrater and listening to my meditation recordings.  I’m a Muse rather than an agitator.  What can I do?  I am what I am.  Maybe in my next lifetime I can let loose, be like Janis Joplin and scream, Cry baby, cry baby, cry baby…

Isn’t that a powerful voice?  It has so much soul, Southern Comfort and cigarrettes in its timbre. It grinds into your very being. Her image is the very epitome of what my heart craves – being “the queen of psychedelic soul.”

It would be great if I could just loosen my hair, let it fall and be the wild child/woman that is hiding in my head.  But here’s the thing.  I am afraid to let her out, afraid of what she will do.  She could go out of control.  I hang on tight to my sensible self.

I lack courage – to be the best, the wildest, most creative person I could be.  I am trapped, for now, in my heavy sensible shoes.  I cannot take them off.  I am trapped by my upbringing and tradition.  But mostly, it is by my lack of self belief.  I am Miss Coward, hiding in my sensible shoes.

I’m hoping that Janis’ music can take me up a notch or two.  Maybe if I belt out the lyrics along with her, I can gain some spunk and style.  So what if I am a very mature adult.  My 70ish ex-neighbour used to tan in a bikini and wore red barrettes in her hair.  It was not a pretty sight but hey, good for her!  She was living her dreams.

I’m not asking to be that crazy or flamboyant.  My hippy spirit just wants to be unchained.  All I want is a little touch of wildness – just a modest halter top and respectable shorts in black leather.  Oh, I would want a pair of high heel boots, too.  All real writers wear cowboy boots but I want Nancy Sinatra’s “these boots are made for walking.”  I want to kick up a little dust and stomp out a few words and live my wildest dreams.

They do come true, don’t they?  Cry baby, cry baby……

Oh, I like these boots!  Okay, I want it all – the flamboyance, wildness, success, fame.  You name it and I’ll want it.  Ha!

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOBBY SINGS THE BLUES

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It’s not quite Friday but it’s close enough to tell my story of 100 words on Friday Fictioneers. Our genteel host is Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.  We are both addicted to purple. My story is inspired by Miss Janis Joplin’s singing the blues.

“Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose”

I just love her cackle at the end of the song, don’t you?

campfire

PHOTO PROMPT -Copyright – Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

The fire roared in her belly. She felt the heat rising to her chest, up her throat into her mouth. She breathed out and saw the white cloud billowing into the cool air.

She sighed, releasing more steam into the night. Collapsing against the wall, her breath was jagged and painful. Her heart pounded. She heard its echo in the silence.

Not much longer! She muttered under her breath. Not much longer! I WILL be free.

The pain stabbed her heart like a bolt of lightning. She clutched and clawed at it, falling to the ground. The flames claimed her.

 

THE RHYTHM METHOD

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The thing worse than having the blues is having the summer time blues.  You have no excuse for your feelings then.  There are all those upbeat songs about being happy like Mungo Jerry’s In the Summertime.  Even my downbeat feet beat time to the rhythm.

If you’re in the need of mellowing, Ella can soothe you with her crooning.

I would not advise listening to Janis Joplin. Not only are the fish jumping but so is my heart, from watching a little of her rendition.  Better leave that one for a brighter day and a more stable heart.  Be still, my heart!  Nothing can harm you.

The clouds have returned and I am feeling my heeby jeebies.  Nothing to worry about.  I am quite familiar with them.  We are old friends now.  I will breathe and have another cup of tea and tap out a few more words, if I can.  The piano is there waiting for me.  I have almost conquered My Heart Will Go On.  I am ready to tackle Fur Elise.  I don’t pick easy pieces, do I?

Learning to count and to keep time resets my heart and quiets my mind.  That’s why I like the tap, tapping of my keyboard.  It’s much like the steady rhythm of knitting needles. Click, click, click.  I’m killing several birds with one stone.  I’m not wasting time, tied in knots, huddled in fetal position or getting trouble with other people because I am not ‘feeling up to par’.  At the end of the day, I have something to show – a piece of writing, a scarf, learned a piece of music.  Not all in the same day, of course, but you know what I mean.

Cruise DinnerIt’s good that time does not stand still.  I have to move along and not wallow in old feelings and old memories.  Sometimes when I see old photos, I do want to hang onto my youthful self with all my might.  But you know how impossible that is.  So I give it up, remembering that I did not appreciate it at the time.  It is how it is.  You are always envying what you had.  It is our human nature.

I have come to appreciate my ‘down’ time.  I am a little more reflective and aware, not so caught up the usual.  It is the same with my sleepless episodes.  It is what happens.  I value the insights I get with my altered mental state.  Things are not clear and more clear at the same time.  I go Wow!  I tell myself not to stress myself so much the next time when I am blue or sleepless.  It is just the rhythm of life.  Learn from it if you can but do not beat yourself over it.