Joni

I wish I had known you then.
Singing your poetry so confidently –
a woman in control.
A woman expressing her wisdom,
composure, certainty.
A woman expressing her skepticism,
vulnerability, sensitivity.
Just you and me
alone together
listening to the LP –
lyrics speaking to my heart.

Perhaps, I should have abandoned school
and driven to Laurel Canyon.
Would you have been my friend?
Ten years older and so much wiser.
As a girlfriend, I didn’t intend.
I’d leave that for David or Graham
or fellow Canadian Neil.
But I would have loved to know
what made you tick.
Learn what made you feel.

For the Roses is still my favorite.
Capturing the devotion
of a precocious eighteen year old
with words that shaped my life.
Listening again, forty seven years later,
it catapults me back instantly
to that fresh, frustrating, formative time
that helped craft the whole of me.

I remember you complaining on
Miles of Aisles about the audience
demanding to hear your old songs.
You said they never would ask Van Gough
to paint another Starry Night.
But I can listen without your permission
as many times as I desire.
Experience my own starry night
as my soulful reflection transpires.

I wish I had known you then.