David Oliver Cranmer

Not Just Another Playlist

Often, I sit in my swivel chair
looking out the window,
while jazz, country, or rock music plays.

This pleasure goes on for many hours
a mystic trance of sorts
streaming—the glue maintaining my soul.

I turn the best songs into playlists
(once we called them mix tapes)
puzzling over the perfect order.

Does Satchmo’s “What a Wonderful World”
kick off my latest list
or make it the big soulful closer?

And does “Mack the Knife” go higher in
the set than “Summertime?”
That’s an Ella Fitzgerald duet!

“Foolishness? No, it’s not” whether you
are climbing a tree to
count all the leaves or tapping to beats.

These are the joys that bring inner peace
and balance (to a cold
universe) lifting spirits skyward.

David Oliver Cranmer’s poems, short stories, articles, and essays have appeared in publications such as Punk Noir Magazine, The Five-Two: Crime Poetry Weekly, Needle: A Magazine of Noir, LitReactor, Macmillan’s Criminal Element, and Chicken Soup for the Soul. His debut chapbook, Dead Burying the Dead Under a Quaking Aspen, is now available. He’s a dedicated Whovian who enjoys jazz and backgammon. He can be found in scenic upstate New York where he lives with his wife and daughter.