Ray Rasmussen
Folk Festival
The Party’s Over, we had us a time.
We emptied the coffers of water and wine.
~ Eliza Gilkyson Lyrics |
By the third day of the festival, I've shifted from observing to celebrating, from photographing singers, the audience, street performers, stagehands, artisans, to swinging to the music.
The stage darkens after the finale, the crowd applauds and then drifts off into the night. At a local hall, the performers play for a gathering of festival volunteers. We dance the way I used to dance, the way I didn't dance enough. Afterwards, I sit, cooling off, letting the quiet seep in.
music hall
empty but for the smell
of spilled drinks
In no hurry to return to my motel room, I wander along a stream that winds through town and pause to photograph a moonlit reflection of garden flowers. I’m humming Eliza’s song, remembering her dreamy renderings, feeling the need to move to the slow beat of her music.
murmur of water
flowing from mountains
to prairie
Published in The Unseen Wind: British Haiku Society Haibun Anthology 2009, Lynne Rees and Jo Pacsoo (Editors), British Haiku Society.
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