Poetry

New Jersey didn’t know how to fill it. It really did help in the hospital.

I actually did not decide on a name yet. We are still working on the musical arrangement for the instruments, and often a line stands out to become the title. I gave them lyrics the day before that are more comparable to their metal genre, so they are working on that in the studio. It includes a bit of cursing, it’s snarking and even mean, so I didn’t share it here! Some topic, for the most part, though. They agree to do one my way for about every 4 or 5 that I write for them, so I try to be patient. I was considering “Not Even on TV,” but I wrote one about addiction where the chorus repeats “I am not your savior” so originally I named it “Savior.” We changed it to “Close the Curtain” because one stanza says: Life isn’t certain/ I’m not that person /I closed the curtain/ Go save yourself.” It was a switch of emotion in the song, and stuck with listeners, so we changed the title. When I publish poetry, I rarely do titles, unless the publisher insists. It’s just not my thing. But songs need them.