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My Gen X Playlist: Tension Makes a Tangle – 10,000 Maniacs

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When I saw family that I hadn’t seen in ages, they always said the same thing. Wow! Are you still growing? When I was in junior high school, I grew ten inches in one year. So if they asked me that then, I would understand. But I’d occasionally still get that same comment well into adulthood and I found that funny and strange at the same time. My typical response was I wasn’t growing taller, I was growing wider. This joke illicited a few chuckles, but over time, minding my width became more than just a little quip.

I was reading A Grace Full Life’s blog and came across a poignant quote. Some things you know are going to stick when they cross your path. As soon as I read this, I knew it would park itself inside me.

I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.

I’ve been pretty busy thinking how to lengthen my life, yet I haven’t paid equal attention to the width of it. Embrace the width? Not something I thought I’d ever say. It doesn’t roll easily off my tongue just yet. But maybe in time. It’s not only important to live a long healthy life, it’s equally important collecting memories along the way. Finding a balance between the two seems the right recipe.

Before the 10,000 Maniacs made it big, they released the album The Wishing Chair. A young Natalie Merchant sang Tension Makes a Tangle.

Thought mistaken for a memory
Clear the dust from smiles in boxes
Pass a patterned wall
Recall their voices

To me, it seemed the lyrics were a collection of random objects tied to a timeline of memories. There seems to be a story there somewhere. We only get snippets in the form of a list of collected things. We’ll never know their true meaning, that’s reserved for the collector, remaining personal and private. But it’s a reminder for me to continue collecting memories along the way, no matter how simple, mundane or obscure. The collection, after all, is only mine.

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

As frail hinges
Pivot on a case’s door
Commemorative
Souvenirs from places

Containers change
With each occasion

A cellophane encased
Display of paper
Certificate
To credit years of service

A tool of central enterprises
The early hope
For permanence
The words

The rings
Consistency
The social security
A miracle is high tragedy

Thought mistaken
For a memory
Clear the dust from
Smiles in boxes

Pass a patterned wall
Recall their voices

A local post
Will list your friends
In order of
Disappearance
The lawn scattered

Tins feed birds
A portion baked for
Absent guests
And the mass edition icon

God sent comfort
Your salvation
But who grants absolution
For sins that
Never were committed

Tension makes a tangle
Of each thought
Becomes an inconvenience
Sound as it never penetrates

As servile edges
Break and
Feint

Thought mistaken
For a memory
A dress length
Assassination
A fractured family tie
Another christening

Christening
Christening
Christening

17 thoughts on “My Gen X Playlist: Tension Makes a Tangle – 10,000 Maniacs”

  3. Yes you’re sooo right!
    The growing ten inches in a year thing makes me think of my son Taz who, as a teenager , seemed taller every single morning he came out of his bedroom! He is pretty tall and grew so fast he has horizontal stretch marks across his back 😬
    He’d be so annoyed if he knew I mentioned it lol

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  7. “Oh my gosh… First off, thank you so much for the shout-out! It’s always such an honor to be featured in a friend’s blog, and I truly appreciate it. Secondly, I had a major growth spurt in junior high too! It was so intense that I ended up with something called Osgood-Schlatter disease (nothing serious, thankfully).

    As someone who struggles with change and thrives on routine, that quote really resonated with me. Finding balance, as you mentioned, is so important. ❤️

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    1. I think your blog is wonderful and always take a piece away to think about. I really enjoy your writing.

      Another growth spurter! Yes, I also had aches and pains, too. All in all, I think they were worth it!

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