Our dear friend and colleague Mila Polevia passed away recently and we would like to share this poem Michael Foley wrote:
THE SHADOW OF MILA’S STRINGS
I see the shadow of Mila’s strings
pressed against the velvet lining
his open guitar case like a door ajar
saying I’ve just arrived
but I’m ready to leave
the lid is wide open ready
to receive that request for a song
written in ink so bold
on a hundred dollar bill
at least that’s the idea
his ice breaking conversation
always melted our hearts
always fresh like the repertoire
Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah
or My Diamond Back El Camino
dropped into a sea of slack key
falsetto for once misnamed
because the high notes don’t lie
most of us come here saying nothing
keeping to ourselves
hiding inside the amplification
so we let him carry the tune
we don’t even understand the words
most of the time—I keep asking myself
what is this place I find myself
where people are just trying to get by
he looks out and sees us
with our loss there on our sleeves
our found here in our eyes
if we disappeared
he’d still keep playing
what’s that saying
just that he’s brought that too
this possibility this chance
that something between us
will pick up another chord
a vibration that’ll keep moving
right on up the hill through the night
into the dark under the starry sky
I turn into the place called home
and wonder is the soul inside or out
am I the impression left
when the lid is closed tight
pressed down against my strings
right now I’m feeling small
my voice is so far inside
I can hardly hear it so far
I’m beginning to wonder
if I understand what’s going on
this coming together
this coming apart
don’t tell me the music is magical
and the singer is only the messenger
this is the crazy thing
this coming down to earth
half believing it’s not a dream
what’s it going to take
to get ahold of this connection business
tonight it rained and we got closer
closed those distances we call ourselves
hey it was a taste in the end
we paid our bills mine yours
left our respective tips there
on the wet tables and then it cleared
we look up see planets we can name
galaxies we can’t
the crazy thing this looking up
all those lines we didn’t understand
Hawaiian or English it doesn’t matter
inside all language there’s another language
let’s just say we took our cells to the gig
and Mila’s songs pressed themselves
against our velvet minds
If you would like to read some of Mila’s poetry and listen to his music
