Ninth Innings – 17th April 2025

In youth, as playful as expected
it was a pleasure to see you run,
panting for breath until collected;
the joys of a life just begun.

In the early years, you would settle
to be as we all had visualised;
then, one day, you suffered bad fettle
and your health would then be compromised.

Through eight lives, where you almost perished
to the ills of kidney and liver,
our love never wavered, we cherished
every moment as the caregiver.

Now here we are in the ninth innings,
to see you this way now brings us pain,
but the memory of your beginnings
from a lifetime ago will remain.

Shared with Momoetry April Poet Month challenge – ode

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Charlie Zero The Poet Music picks & Reviews #17 and my quick thoughts:

PoiL – Long familiar with this awesome band. The video for Fionosphere is mesmerising: https://youtu.be/c6tbJDm40Pc?si=30WWUNu7hgZJX0Xk

I seem to end up watching it every few months. In fact, I’m going to watch it again now.

Zu – Zu were on my record label’s very first release so I’m familiar with them too: https://tenzenmen.bandcamp.com/album/eccentrics-vol-1
This is a good reminder for me to go check out some of their more recent stuff though.

Prairie WWWW – I came across this band about five years ago and some of the band members names are familiar to me though I’m not sure why. I never listened in depth before but it’s obvious that this style is right up my street!

Fulu Miziki – vaguely familiar with this band too, I think from stumbling across videos of theirs. Listening now brings back strong vibes of listening to John Peel late at night, waiting to hear the one or two punk tunes he might play and being subjected to what seemed like hours of the Bhundhu Boys (which, ironically, I find quite enjoyable now)

Sonora Tropical – the brief snippet here also brought back John Peel vibes and this one not enough for me to investigate further – these hips are too old to shake these days.

Great selections this time, Charlie.