Author: Dan Steven Erickson

The Ride

it was it, the one, the ride.
the train was gaining speed,
but not too much.
it was her, the one, the love,
the perfect mix of all of them
and none of them at once.
something familiar,
something new.

her hand slowly touching mine,
almost holding, not quite.
her lips almost whispering
the words,
“I love you.”
the train, steady, rolling to
the place we always longed
to be, unsure, my heart
both still, and racing.

it was it, the one, the ride.
it was her, the one, the love.
it was the feeling of almost
being there, so close, so right.
it was the ride you wanted
to last forever, the dream
of a lifetime, the one
that almost comes true,
yet always remains
on the verge.

it was it, the one, the ride.
the train was gaining speed,
but not too much.

Kinks

Writing in itself is not usually frustrating to me. Composing music is also generally not frustrating. However, the technology used to create webpages and audio recordings are often filled with kinks.

I’ve pared down on how much technology I use, but it still often feels like too much. I cut my social media in half. I’m reducing the websites I operate from four down to one. Still, technology has its kinks that can be both challenging and an obstacle.

Maybe, I’m showing my age, but things didn’t used to be this way. Dealing with our daily responsibilities and hobbies was as simple as dropping a letter in the mailbox and picking up a guitar. Now we have a myriad of logins and passwords to remember. We have programs and technical systems that can randomly glitch. We have Internet that can crap out. And the system is always changing. Kinks.

There are days when I want to erase my digital presence and go back to living like it’s 1981. I likely won’t do anything so dramatic. I might take some short breaks. In this age, part of being a writer and a musician includes the kinks of learning and keeping up with the technology.

One thing that has lessened my kinks lately has been switching to a new hosting service. I moved from a shared-hosting service to a premium host. This new site is hosted through Flywheel.

In the end, I always seem to accept the challenge. Frustration, kinks, and all, I continue to keep doing my best to learn what I need to know to keep this thing alive. – dse

Spoken Word

Almost a decade ago, I experimented with audio posts and podcasting on my original website. At the time, I decided it was too much effort for such a small audience. I’m reconsidering the idea of adding spoken word to my work.

Actually, if you’ve been paying attention, I’ve already been experimenting with spoken word. I’ve posted a few sound clips of poetry reading mixed with simple music beds. I like the concept. Could that lead to more? Extended audio posts? Podcasting? Videos? YouTube? Whoa, Bessie, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Time will tell. For now, you might expect a few more simple audio clips of poetry reading. That’s a good start.

One thing’s for certain. I’ll need to make some minor audio upgrades to my recording studio. One reason I tend to stick to music (no vocals) with Anderhill is that my audio setup is not the best. I purposefully try to keep things as simple as possible.

To get better audio quality, a few items are needed: a digital interface, a small audio mixer, and a higher-quality mic will be the ticket to start producing more spoken word and adding more vocals into my music.

I’d ask for your financial support, but I’m not a blogger or a beggar. I’m a proud artist. I’ll starve. Don’t take my (spoken) word for it, but this could definitely be the start of a cool thing. – dse

Home

weary, I crawled back
to an old familiar place
after a long and laborious journey,
but the doors were locked
and the windows were all broken.
rafters and beams were all out of
whack, and the structural integrity
was gone.

barefooted, I walked on shards
of glass, searching for something,
anything that resembled what I’d
once built with my own hands.
one tiny shelf remained in-tact,
and on that dusty shelf was a
little wooden heart-shaped box.

the contents of the box were simple:
honesty, love, peace, dignity, respect.
I stuffed the contents into my pockets
and walked away from that broken
house, leaving bloody footprints
in my wake. the soft moon rose
and the raven gently called me
home.

No Obligation

At my old website, I wrote a couple of series of articles: Super Habits for Success and Divergent Prompts for Creativity. I never finished the latter series due to a simple discovery. Obligation kills motivation.

In life, it’s expected that we take on responsibility and obligation. I have an obligation to go to work. I have an obligation to take care of my child. However, I also love my work, and I love my daughter, Annie.

I also love writing, but I don’t love writing about everything.

By setting up series, I obligated myself to complete them, even if I lost interest. By the time I’d finished the Super Habits for Success series, I no longer cared about success in any sort of traditional way. The writing became a vain obligation. I didn’t love what I was doing.

The second series, Divergent Prompts for Creativity is quite likely, in part, why I’m killing my old blog and starting this site. I think the divergent prompts include some of my best writing: short, concise, and thought-provoking. Chances are high that those old posts will wind up here as stand-alone essays in the future. The pithy style of those pieces led to what I’m creating here.

I’m a writer. I didn’t intend to start this new site posting several essays a week. This time was going to be different, and it is, but the ideas and words came with a rush. The new often brings excitement and motivation. The difference is simple. If I choose, I’ll take a full week, month or even longer periods of time away from writing here.

Writing is something I love, not solely an obligation. – dse

Time & Texture

I really enjoyed composing this 2019 electronic music release. Time & Texture was an experiment in using repetitive beats, ambient sounds, and very subtle melodic structures. It’s not minimalist music in the classical sense, but it is experimentation in minimalism as an art form, as is much of what I compose as Anderhill.

A few of these songs were completed while traveling and spending time in Northern California near the Redwoods and the Pacific Ocean. Perhaps, I’ve caught a little bit of the awe of that natural beauty in the music. – dse