Thanksgiving at Barley Street (poem) by Mark Sebring on AuthorsDen

Thanksgiving at Barley Street
by Mark Sebring → (All Poetry by Mark Sebring)
Wednesday, August 17, 2022 Rated "G" by the Author.

Save

Follow Share on Facebook



🦃Thanksgiving at Barley Street I’m at Barley Street Tavern. It’s the night before Thanksgiving, two-thousand twelve. Matt Cox has put on one of his all-star shows to raise money to feed the poor. I love these all-star shows; singers in the round. I remember hearin’ Kyle and Cass sing together once - thinkin’ they sounded kinda like Marty Balin and Grace Slick. (This was before I’d stopped drinkin’ on account of my DUI.) Of course Kyle don’t work at Barley Street no more. He’s moved to Colorado. But we’ve still got Juan, one of the nicest people to ever walk the planet. (How many Barley Street bartenders does it take to change a light bulb? Just Juan.) I remember him tellin’ me about Glacier Creek at Matt and Emily’s reception. He had just started working there. I go there a lot these days. I didn’t know he’d passed on until nearly a year afterward. That’s one drawback to bein' a hermit. I have so many memories of Barley Street. Seen so many great shows there. The night Travelling Mercies closed out the OEA Showcase. The whole audience standing in front of the stage. Jeremy, slightly drunk, that wild look in his eyes, the Travelling Preacher putting on perhaps the finest show of his life. And me, when it was all over, walking to my car alone in the darkness, singing to myself as I often did, “I am a man of constant sorrow”. But right now I’m mostly thinking of that one Thanksgiving eve. Sitting with Gary Flanagan, talking about going to see Johnny Rivers together the next time he happened to be in the area. Unfortunately it never came to pass. I had no way of knowing I’d never see Gary again. And now Barley Street Tavern is closed. Over the years I’ve learned that life goes on. We must accept things as they are. So now, mostly, I feel a sense of Thanksgiving. I appreciate what I've had. Naturally I feel some regret, that I’ll never experience these things again. But at the same time I can feel thankful, that they ever happened at all. Mark Sebring (2021) This is a Thanksgiving story about being thankful for things we had but don't have anymore, including people we've cared about and lost. We are often given gifts that do not last. We must learn to appreciate that we were given them in the first place instead of endlessly grieving over the fact that they are gone. The cartoon at the top of the page was created by Gary Flanagan. The two characters were intended to represent him and me, many years from now. Check out my "Sans Rêves" video on my YouTube channel. It contains lots of photos taken at Barley Street Tavern and other Omaha venues. (The first act is about The Omaha Music Scene.) I decided to create pages for my two poems from 2021-2022 that were worth posting: This one (orignally included in my commentary for "Song For Daniel") and my final poem, "Swan Song". 🦢

Reviewed by Mark Sebring

Reviewed on August 27, 2022

I decided to create pages for my two poems from 2021-2022 that were worth posting:
"Swan Song 🦢" b/w "Thanksgiving at Barley Street 🦃"

"Swan Song" will be my last poem, and it's mostly about giving up on my dream of being a poet.
It is followed by a somewhat humorous, somewhat harsh critique, which is intended to provide a final
explanation of my Inner Conflicts. It's rather difficult to understand though, unless you follow the links.
The poetry video at the bottom is my latest. It is called "My Quiet Place". 🦋

"Thanksgiving at Barley Street" starts out being about memories of a local bar that is now closed,
and some friends who've passed away. But the ending is about dealing with Nostalgia.
It contains LOTS of links to photos and videos from Barley Street Tavern and other Omaha venues.
The music video at the bottom is for my solo piano piece, "Never Again". 🦢

Carmen Cygni 🦢

NOTE: My AuthorsDen pages are better viewed on a PC 💻 than on a "smart" phone.