The suitcase weighs less now.
I learned what not to bring.
The unnecessary shoes. The hardcover book.
The certainty that applause
will repair what aches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Highways unroll their grey ribbon.
Hotel keys demagnetize.
Soundchecks occur
in rooms smelling of coffee
and extension cords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I move differently through it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know which towns have stores I like.
How to stretch before lifting amplifiers.
How to sleep using unfamiliar pillows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I stand inside the shared attention
the old songs discover
new faces to inhabit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have buried people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bandmates.
Teachers.
Audience members<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The young assume touring is escape.
I know it is return.
Again to the microphone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Again to the piano.
Again to the astonishing fact
strangers gather in darkness
hoping to feel less alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then I gather my things,
step back into the night,
follow the melody
toward whatever remains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The suitcase weighs less now.I learned what not to bring.The unnecessary shoes. The hardcover book.The certainty that applausewill repair what aches. Highways unroll their grey ribbon.Hotel keys demagnetize.Soundchecks occurin rooms […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"Layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[902],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","author-rockbob","post-9566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9566\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}