First let me say, I am humbled that so many people in so many countries have stumbled across this song and taken the time to listen to it. Several months ago I started getting updates from Shazam informing me that Walking to Santa Fe was getting Shazamed in a very wide variety of countries/cities. I assume it must have found its way onto some shared, public playlists where it is being discovered. Don’t get me wrong - major artists wouldn’t even notice it. But I do. Thanks.
————- Like all of the songs on my collection Running Through the Corn, this song is spirit-driven. In recent years I’ve been striving to understand the difference between my ego-based self and my deeper soul-based self. (What Thomas Merton, among others would call the “True Self”.) I suspect this will be a long journey of discovery and I regret taking so long to start down this path. Much unlearning to be done. Still, things happen in their own time. Former students of mine could tell you that I have also long been interested in the concepts of “Wonder and Awe” which I originally came across when reading Abraham Heschel. How can we…. how can I make space for moments of wonder and awe? How can I recognize them when they occur? Just what are these moments and where do they come from? In general I think these moments are continually available to us. At the same time it seems that certain places are particularly pregnant - ready to give birth to such moments. For me one such place is the desert of New Mexico. I was speaking with an old and dear friend about this not too long ago and she said, “you know, this land has been being prayer over for thousands of years.” Indeed. Finally, I was very deliberate in my selection of the names and situations I posited. For example, “Asha grabs the valley highway…” where to listen |
walking to santa fe
hannah takes the train to boston asha grabs the valley highway I’m walking toward santa fe lured by the desert’s sway having been so long astray I'm listening for what the land might say jesse hitching rides toward austin ailana gridlocked in L.A. I’m walking toward santa fe warmed by the sun’s bright ray steps on a vanished way feathers in the air today slowing down that I might see I feel you near I feel you pausing now that I might hear at once I finally meet me as the sun sets colors wash spirits with me as I think back on the day I smile hannah takes the train to boston asha grabs the valley highway jesse hitching rides toward austin ailana gridlocked in L.A. all instruments and vocals glenn
cover art by rae all materials copyright © 2021 glenn wiggins |