Close your eyes and count to three
Tell the wonders that you see
Then close your eyes and count to ten
And tell us just once more again
Close your eyes and now to six
Steel your bones and feel the fix
Spread your mouth and count to four
Crack the window, peel the door
Lift your chin and how about three
You know it’s you I know it’s me
Flap your ears and fly to seven
Heaven is what rhymes you know
And what of one
And how about two
Blue. And done.
Better run
Here comes five.
Welcome to The ALIVE hour.
Illustration: Shannon Colon
Audio mixing / music: Chloe Riley
(with Barbara Bohn)
Things found in real life
This message, brought to you by a Chicago nail salon:
This book from Louie Anderson (his last), in which he writes letters to his long-dead mother.
(And this post-it, which is not my handwriting, but which I found and am now sticking on things):
Things found on the internet
This inadvertent email poem from my dad:
The message on this video ad:
These words from this five-year-old boy:
You gotta say your affirmations in your mouth and your heart.
You say, ‘I am brave of this meeting! I am loved! I smell good!’
You gotta walk big. You gotta mean it. Like Dolly on a dinosaur. Because you got it.
These words from Janis Joplin:
I’m scared. I think, ‘It’s so close. Can I make it?’ If I fail, I’ll fail in front of the whole world. If I miss, I’ll never have a second chance on nothing. But I gotta risk it. I never hold back…
This relationship between this racing horse (now dead) and this donkey (still alive):
By all accounts, the two animals locked eyes and sent each other telepathic messages about hanging out together for eternity. From that point on, they were glued to each other, even sleeping in the same stall.
The ALIVE hour