POETIC LICENSES

Once more, today...30 May....is NATIONAL CREATIVITY DAY.... .....few even vary the side of the bed they sleep on, or what they'll have for b'fast..stuck in their habitual routines....It's easy to develop habituations to which even the slightest change-ups produce anxiety......'Changing It Up' is how we progress, rather than dwell in Stasis....To challenge my curmudgeondom, I'm sleeping in 'another' bed tonight' eating foods that I've never had before, today; listening to unfamiliar music; wearing clothes that I've not worn in decades; driving the 'other' car....(that would take some 'jumping off', for sure)...but, there's an old bicycle, rusting in the garage.... to spark creativity and provoke my brain to think a bit differently......even if but for a day.....or, are we all just primates, addicted to the sameness of lazy conformity? Have an eggroll, Mr. Monkey.......there's plenty of bananas for tomorrow.....

I HAD JUST GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL IN MAY OF 1963......   AFTER THE CAP AND GOWN EVENT, I DROVE TO NASHVILLE TO CHECK OUT POTENTIAL LIVING QUARTERS FOR MY NEXT FOUR YEARS AT VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY....AND, THAT ACCOMPLISHED, WENT TO A LOCAL RECORD STORE, NICHOLSON'S , WHICH WAS LOCATED JUST A BLOCK AWAY, ON 19TH AVENUE.......NICHOLSON'S  WAS A TREASURE MINE FOR MUSIC...I WANTED TO STAY THERE FOR A YEAR....LISTENING TO LPS IN A PHONEBOOTH-LIKE 'LISTENING  ROOM' THEREIN.....AND, SOON, EMPTIED MY TOOLED MEXICAN LEATHER WALLET OF THE FEW BUCKS THAT WERE FOLDED WITHIN IT...."THE FREEWHEELING BOB DYLAN" WAS ATOP MY STACK, ALONG WITH SOME OTHER 'FOLKISH' ALBUMS BY JAN AND DEAN,  JOAN BAEZ, WOODIE GUTHRIE, ODETTA & PETER, PAUL AND MARY....BY THE TIME SCHOOL BEGAN, JUST FOUR MONTHS LATER, MY ENTIRE MINDSET HAD BEEN TRANSFORMED BY A NEW CONSCIOUSNESS ......LED BY DYLAN......