Ken Nordine Album Cover: “How Are Things In Your Town?” 1972
Growing up in the Chicago area as a teen and young adult, I often would listen to a late night jazz on the radio. One of the shows was that of Ken Nordine reading his poetry while playing jazz. He has one of the best radio voices anywhere. You may have heard his voice and didn’t know who it was, since, over the years, he has done a lot of voice-over TV commercials. Since his radio show in the sixties, he has done several Word Jazz albums. One of his albums is “How Are Things In Your Town,” which includes “What Time Is It?”
I have always been preoccupied with time even though I know the concept of time is something created by humans. Time does not exist. Let, without it what would we do.
We humans focus too much on time, so much so that when a first grader was being told about daylight savings time and the way you remember whether it’s time to turn the clocks back or forward — think fall back in the Fall and spring forward in the Spring, she asked, “Who tells the birds to spring forward?” Of course the question, like most children’s questions provided for a teaching opportunity — birds don’t need clocks to tell them it’s time to get up or time to go to sleep.
And then there’s Arizona. The time zones across the United States all sprung forward today, but not Arizona. Like the birds, we follow nature’s clock — no spring forward and falling back for us. Since I come from generations of farmers, my wakeup time is earlier with the passing of each day – no sudden change to my body clock. As a result, I still hear the morning dove calls and see the return of the Western Screech Owl to roust under our entrance way. Life continues to change while staying the same.
Oh, if you live on the east coast, don’t be calling us at 8:00am, EDT!
The tolling bell Measures time not our time, rung by the unhurried Ground swell, a time Older than the time of chronometers, older Than time counted by anxious worried women Lying awake, calculating the future, Trying to unweave, unwind, unravel And piece together the past and the future, Between midnight and dawn, when the past is all deception, The future futureless, before the morning watch When time stops and time is never ending
Time– Image by kenne
“Statue of Death” — Image by kenne
Image by kenne
All time is created equal,
but we don’t use it equally.
Some are livin’ on Tulsa time,
others in a New York minute.
My time is your time,
but it is not mine to give.
You can’t give away
something that isn’t yours.
…unless
you share the moment.
— kenne
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