sweet t:

I’m not religious in any ordinary sense, though I do sometimes make my way to Mass and occasionally feel something like religion—usually while staring up at oak trees, or reading a new poem, or tuning into the sounds of the world: children’s voices, birds, even the trains here in Memphis offer up their own sort of song.  With all the buzz about Obama’s singing Al Green at a fundraiser this past week, and my own delight at a President who opened himself to a few words of 1970s soul (it’ so humanizing), I’m more aware than ever of just how powerful sound and music can be. And, of course, I welcome any chance to praise the Rev. Green, who is, for me, the very sound of Memphis, and his songs, their own sort of church.