I'm currently re-reading a book which I originally purchased in 1994. It is “Care of the Soul” by Thomas Moore. In it, Moore talks about “cultivating depth and sacredness in everyday life”. The lessons learned from mythology and the use of imagination bring new ways of being and thinking about ourselves in this world.
In the chapter entitled “The Body's Poetics of Illness”, Moore says that we seldom throw together illness and image. Medical science says “This is it! Only one interpretation is required.” Poetry, on the other hand, never stops interpreting. It tries to go deeper and deeper. And imagination allows us to move into those deeper insights.
I like to give names to parts of my body: Larry the Liver, Barney the Bowel, Billy-Bob the Bladder. You know, things like that. And I will talk to them: how's it going Billy-Bob? I imagine Barney saying “Just doing my job, Boss!”
I felt vindicated for my song “Psycho Violins” where I named the pain I felt in my leg following my triple bypass surgery, the “Psycho Violins”, after the soundtrack for the Hitchcock movie “Psycho”. I even envisioned the violin players to look like Al Capone gangsters, pulling up with their violin cases filled with, what else? Violins!
I know you're going to think, wow, this guy is a weirdo! Well, I wear the name proudly! In fact, when my daughter Hannah once said, “Dad, you're weird!” I thought, gee, that's the nicest thing she's ever said to me!
In writing this and other songs, and now reading “Care of the Soul”, I feel I am getting myself on the right track to accepting myself a little better.