Introduction

Everyone goes through some tough times in their life. It's up to each person to decide how they will survive those periods with the least amount of stress. This blog is my attempt to show what works for me.

Music is a healing therapy. While a lively tune can change my mood in minutes and make me feel like dancing, the music has always been about the lyrics. Growing up in the 60s and 70s, the songs I listened to were either Folk or Rock. One made sense and one didn't. One I danced to and enjoyed for what it was and the other I listened to over and over again. I searched for that feeling which the writer intended the listener to feel. I felt that feeling...sometimes too intensly. To this day, I can hear a song from that era and know exactly what it meant to me then and why. In the last few years, alternative music has affected me in much the same way. That genre of music combines both rock and folk together in a unique way. My Ipod ranges from Simon and Garfunkle to 3 Doors Down and I love it!

Most people don't know that I have always been interested in writing. When I was young I wanted to write children's books. I used to write them in my looseleaf notebook in study hall with freehand drawings to go with the text. I can't help but smile when I watch my five year old grandaughter write her own "books" now. As a teen, I discovered that poetry fascinated me much the same way that folk music did. At first, I read them and deciphered them. I didn't care if I interpreted them in the intended way. I interpreted them in my own way. When I started writing poetry it was just fun and something to do when I was supposed to be listening in government class. I stopped writing for many years. About five years ago, when journaling became the "in" thing...I started writing again. Most of my poems have a personal meaning to me. I don't expect anyone to feel what I felt when I wrote them. I decided to blog them and share some of them.

Word Play will combine both elements. Some days I will post my own poetry and others I will post some lines of lyrics which have touched me. I hope they make you smile or think or heal, as they have done for me. As Jason Mraz sings "It's all about the word play". Enjoy!