by Reed Bye
Reed Bye: vocals, guitar
Mark Miller: soprano sax
Junior Burke: harmonica
Steven Taylor: guitar
Laurie Rugenstein: fiddle, vocals
David Rugenstein: upright bass
for Anne W.
I’ve been to London
I’ve been to Rome
I’ve been all over
I’m going home
and for awhile
I’m gonna be
my own company
I’ve been the diva
I’ve been the vamp
but I’ve lost my visa
They cancelled my stamp
Now for awhile
I’m gonna be
my own company
I’m always snatching up, patching up, hatching up
some plan in some new place
But now I’m cashing that passion and taking a look
into my own face
It may not be pretty
It may not be fun
but I’ve had it coming
there’s nowhere to run
and for awhile
I’m gonna be
my own company
I need a breather
I need a change
I need a cabin
in some mountain range
cause for awhile
I’m gonna be
my own company
I’ve been chasing a place in a nation where kleshas might self-consume
A place where poetry might shine a light in the night in a comfortless room
I’m always flying round trying to find a horizon where worlds can meet
But now I’m sure I can only go further by spending a little time in retreat
I’m the outrider
scouting the view
I’m the town crier
shouting the news
but for a while
I’m gonna be
my own company
Reed Bye’s most recent poetry collections are Morning Rites (2019), Addled Smoke Material: Collaborative Poems with Jack Collom 1972-2017 (2018), Fire for Thought (2016), and a cd recording of original songs, Broke Even (2013). He is an emeritus faculty of the Jack Kerouac School at Naropa University, where he taught poetry writing workshops and courses in classic and contemporary literary studies and contemplative poetics.
He first met Anne in 1975 in Boulder, Colo., where he had just returned from a year “at sea.” She was involved in the beginnings of Naropa and the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. They have been close friends, one way and another, ever since.