mes·mer·ize (m z m -r z , m s -). tr.v. mes·mer·ized, mes·mer·iz·ing, mes·mer·iz·es. 1. To spellbind; enthrall.
I have an ad hoc, semi-regular, depending-on-whose-around writing group that meets up for practice writes (yes, these three months are mainly about practice on all fronts).
Yesterday one of our prompt words was mesmerizing, and I realized that I’m kind of in a constant state of mesmerization here. And I’m especially mesermized by the light at dawn and dusk, those times in Mysore when the day begins or when, still bustling, the sun begins to set and the streets are alive but cast in an otherworldly glow.
I don’t know if it’s pollution or dust kicked up from unpaved streets or the particular rotation of the earth on its axis from this vantage, but there’s a thickness, a viscosity of time and space, light and shadow that occurs here. I walk with my headphones on, a simple observer of everyday comings and goings, when it’s all dragonfly hover, breeze tossing the tips of the palms and rustling laundry. One has an inordinate love of Indian laundry lines when they’re mesmerized! Simple. Beauty.
Deborah Crooks (www.DeborahCrooks.com) is a writer, performing songwriter and recording artist based in San Francisco whose lyric driven and soul-wise music has drawn comparison to Lucinda Williams, Chrissie Hynde and Natalie Merchant.
Singing about faith, love and loss, her lyrics are honed by a lifetime of writing and world travel while her music draws on folk, rock, Americana and the blues. She released her first EP “5 Acres” in 2003 produced by Roberta Donnay, which caught the attention of Rocker Girl Magazine, selecting it for the RockerGirl Discoveries Cd. In 2007, she teamed up with local producer Ben Bernstein to complete “Turn It All Red” Ep, followed by 2008’s “Adding Water to the Ashes” CD, and a second full-length CD “2010. She’s currently working on a third CD to be released in 2013.
Deborah’s many performance credits include an appearance at the 2006 Millennium Music Conference, the RockerGirl Magazine Music Convention, IndieGrrl, at several of the Annual Invasion of the GoGirls at SXSW in Austin, TX, the Harmony Festival and 2009’s California Music Fest, MacWorld 2010, Far West Fest and many other venues and events. She toured the Northwest as part “Indie Abundance Music, Money & Mindfulness” (2009) with two other Bay Area artists, and followed up with “The Great Idea Tour of the Southwest in March 2010 with Jean Mazzei.
