To Persist, like the Clarinet

I walk the beat in downtown Kirkland and listen to the gulls and the hum of the breeze that carries my thoughts, made transparent, when I remember the daily walk.
I decide to write one American sentence a day like Paul Nelson to keep the demons at bay and to persist like the clarinet in the spiritual, Steal Away, discussed on St. Paul Sunday today on 98.1, Classic King. The arranger of the piece attended Boston College and studied with a teacher who taught embellishment--my word to describe the sound of the clarinet as it dips and descends, almost to despair, before the upturn rise like the swallow or the lark ascending in flight, or any flock of ordinary, synchronized birds adapting to the shift in wind currents.

The Tent City 4 homeless walk in pairs down to Heritage Park near the bus stop on Market with cigarettes and disposable cups of coffee. I recognize a few of the men from helping with their move to the new location at the parking lot of the United Church of Christ near the police station....and these homeless men are the only ones who respond to my good morning....not the home-owners walking their dogs who jog by, engrossed in the sounds of their i-pods, and can't hear me.