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The Chris Chandler Show

    • The Muse and Whirled Retort 2026

    The Muse and Whirlerd Retort June 2026

    THE MUSE AND WHIRLED RETORT JUNE 2026

    chandler

    Photo: Amy Sue Berlin

    Hey Everybody,

    I usually send these out on the first of the month - but I have not sent one since my accident so I thought I am long over due.First and most importantly I want to thank you all for your generous support, I could not have gotten this far without you and I recognize how lucky I am to have people like you on my team.

    Thank you.

    And thank you to the good folks of Soup Pot Music in Dallas for putting on a benefit concert. You know who you are and please know that it is deeply appreciated.

    Thank you to Grant Peeples for his belief to let me get on stage at the Word of the South Festival inspite of the injury LOL.

    Also, I feel it is important too especially thank Anne Feeney‘s daughter Amy Sue Berlin for shouldering forward I would not be this far along if it had not been for her. Also, Jen Delyth, Rachael German, and Jena Kirkpatrick. I will forever be in their debt.

    Today would be the first day of Kerrville and it seemed like a good day the send this out.

    I am missing it, being on the Quiet Valley Ranch always means the world to me. Even when it is raining out there like it is right now.

    Yes, there have been significant setbacks in my recovery, but I want you to know that I am working very hard to overcome them. I refuse to be defeated!Physically, I’m doing pretty well. I’m actually doing exercise routines in the gym in my apartment complex, and I am walking a mile every day and starting to get where I can do a good chunk of that without my cane.

    I continue to hold out hope that I will be able to be seen by some sort of physical, mental, speech, or occupational therapist that part has been over two months. But fear not I have been taking steps to re-memorize Poetry and I’m trying to write every day.

    Speaking of writing I will get the first and only significant poem that I have written since the accident. This has been the longest period of my life that I have paid zero attention to the news and kept away from SOCIAL MEDIA, so this poem is uncharacteristically personal. But I have had a major life-changing event and perhaps my writing style will change along with it.

    ***************

    But first, if you would like to support me for this Newsletter, here’s a few few ways you can do it.

    Ways to support:

    GOFUNDME: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-chandler-heal-from-traumatic-brain-injury

    Venmo: https://account.venmo.com/u/thechrischandlershow

    Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/baldchandler

    To be a continuing supporter
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheChrisChandlershow

    There will be some deets about the Kerrville, and this summer after the poem.

    **********

    Enough enough of the crash commercial announcements. It’s time for

    T.h.e. .M.u.s.e. .a.n.d. .W.h.i.r.l.e.d. .R.e.t.o.r.t.

    **********

    May 21 Austin, TX

    Between Twilight and First-Light

    Even though I
    have proven myself not to be the I
    that you
    believed in.
    ~
    I hold out hope.
    ~
    For even though you
    have shown yourself not to be the you
    that I
    believed in.
    ~
    I believe anyway.
    ~
    Because I believe in poetry.
    It was you that taught me how.
    ~
    The you that is - or could be - inside all of us.
    ~
    You told me that my love was like the moon
    because it comes and it goes.
    I said my love was like the moon
    because it’s there
    when it does not show.
    ~
    I mean, I love the stars,
    and even when I can not see them
    it does not mean they are not there.
    ~
    So as I sit here on my porch
    in that magic space
    between twilight and first-light
    There are simply too many street lights
    to behold the stars.
    ~
    But knowing that they are there anyway
    inspires me to imagine the white drops of paint
    on the floor of my tiny one room apartment
    are beneath a mural
    that was painted upon my ceiling generations before
    the present prefab popcorn.
    ~
    Even though the truth is,
    if someone ever painted a mural up there,
    They would lose their security deposit.
    I believe they painted it, anyway.
    ~
    Because I believe in this world.
    ~
    Just as I believe in the Easter Bunny,
    in the tooth fairy, and Santa Claus.
    ~
    I believe in Jesus, the Buddha, Mohammad, Lao Tsu, Vishnu.
    Some born as nobility.
    Others born in poverty.
    Yet, all became beacons within our culture anyway,
    Guiding us forward, warning us of the reefs
    yet, obscuring the stars.
    ~
    I believe in Athena and Zeus.
    The Coyote and Confucius.
    ~
    I believe that Atlas held the world on his shoulders
    and that’s why I have to look inside him
    to figure out where I’m going.
    ~
    He lives in my glove compartment.
    ~
    I believe in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, George, Ringo.
    Four of them live as a sticker
    on my dashboard.
    ~
    I believe in the Dalai Lama, Dolly Parton and Dolly Madison.
    ~
    Hell, I have a furniture dolly named Salvador.
    ~
    I believe in both the past and the future
    For I believe you and I exist in both.
    ~
    I believe that my ability to predict the future will begin eventually.
    ~
    That is why I believe in time AND money.
    Even though neither one of them
    likes the fact that I believe in the other one.
    ~
    Because time is money
    and money is the root of all evil,
    and clearly - these days - evil has far too much time on its hands.
    Oh, and money too.
    ~
    I believe in the Shepherd
    And his Kin.
    But, I believe in the giant too.
    ~
    I believe the story of David and Goliath would be very different
    if told from the perspective of the Philistines.
    ~
    Because even though history is written by the victors
    It doesn’t prove that they were right.
    ~
    And just because that was funny doesn’t mean I was kidding.
    ~
    I believe in the Greeks,
    For they believed we are all merely marionettes
    upon the stage of the gods
    and damn, does God love to yank our chains?
    ~
    That is why I believe in poetry.
    It was you that taught me how.
    ~
    Even though
    I am no longer the me
    that you believed in.
    ~
    I still believe in you
    because you believe in the world.
    ~
    And I wish that I was wrong,
    but I believe that you are right.

    ~

    ********
    D.E.E.T.S.
    As for the Kerrville Folk Festival, I have made arrangements to get a ride out there and a motel room so that I can speak in honor of my dear friend Vern Crawford on Memorial Day when we traditionally honor the people that have passed this year.I was asked by his family and it is a high honor.

    I will probably only be able to be there for an hour or so during the ceremony and then return to my motel room as much as I would love to be at the ranch and participating in the campfires. Also, on Wednesday I have been asked to speak at my dear friend and fellow Stagehand, Fiz Bate’s and her fiancé Sunkyst’s wedding. I will be there, but only for the ceremony. I am sincerely grateful to be able to do that. I won’t be attending campfires I really have to pace myself because I want to be ready and able to do the Oregon Country fair in July in a few dates after that with Paul Benoit.

    photo Register Guard

    At The Faire, I won’t be staying on site and will be resting except for the shows I have been invited to play. I will have the full band with me so they can cover me if I can’t get through the set.

    I will get those dates up on my website as soon as I can, and I am going to plow forward having the Oregon Country Faire in the not too distant future. It gives me something to work towards, and I am appreciative of it. Thank you to Paul Benoit for checking in on me regularly and encouraging me to keep writing and memorizing.

    Thank you for all of your support.

    GOFUNDME: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-chandler-heal-from-traumatic-brain-injury

    Venmo: https://account.venmo.com/u/thechrischandlershow

    Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/baldchandler

    To be a continuing supporter
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheChrisChandlershow