Eric Noden, 1969 - May 15th, 2026
Poem for Eric Noden
There is a hole in the guitar
The exact shape of Eric Noden’s soul.
He poured that soul into every note he played.
Try as we must, we cannot
fill the hole that he
leaves in us.
Harp blowing train,
the shock,
the gut-punch, pain.
The death of the singer
kept from his songs.
For his steel body resonator
to be silent is wrong.
In “Bird Song,” Eric sings
“If I was an Eagle
flying up in the sky
I’d soar up to heaven
so I wouldn’t have to die.
Funeral Blues?
Stop all the clocks?
No man, break out the kazoos,
Mister Noden slipped the surly bonds,
this is not a dirge,
this is a second line,
cut-loose, hallelujah!
Wave your handkerchiefs high
We all want to be in that number,
when his Eagle soars to the sky.
-Gary Glazner
It was bittersweet to perform this poem at the Blues Festival on June 6th, 2026 The sadness of losing Eric Noden far before his time was felt in every tight, tearful hug.
The sweet of how well the Blues Festival staff takes care of you, from the sound mix, to backstage food, to riding you on a golf cart up the street so you don’t get sweaty.
Sweet because Rick Sherry, Chris Walz and Michael Hogg were so kind to make time for my poem. Sweet because Dayna Calderon gave me a blue carnation and I gave her a copy of the poem.
Sweet because my harmonica buddies James Conway and Kevin Burrows the Mayor of Bucktown got to hear it. A big sweet hug for Rich McIntyre for shooting the video.
So many people thanked me for the poem with real sadness in their thanks.
Photo from our costumed march in the 2005 annual Pet Parade in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Which is attended by over 10,000 people. Go Poetry! Go Precision Poetry Drill Team!
Precision Poetry Drill Team
From NPR’s All Things Considered, “The high school letter jacket is a tradition separating the jocks from the non-varsity crowd. But at the Santa Fe Desert Academy, a small private high school in New Mexico, a different kind of student qualifies for the coveted jacket — those who make the Precision Poetry Drill Team.” For more info.
Signal in the nose
TYCHO POEM FOOTNOTES
Artwork by Rachel Kazez
Scratch My Ticket Written and performed by Gary Glazner. Circa 1989 at a venue in Sonoma County, California. Background: The Savings and Loan crisis was in the headlines, the Calfornia Lottery started in 1985 and seemed a natural solution. © Gary Glazner
Thrilled to have a paper published in a special research poetry edition in the peer-reviewed journal Art and Health. Dementia Arts Mapping: observational methods for documenting impacts of poetry and recreation in care settings
The Poetry Slam at the Green Mill last Sunday 12/17/2023 was off the hook good. Marc Kelly Smith (So What!) reprised his justifiably beloved "The SPIRIT OF XMAS EXPECTATIONS." Last year at this time, Marc made a miraculous recovery from a serious accident. I reworked Vince Guaraldi’s “Christmas Time is Here," as a tribute to Marc.
Gary Glazner
…is a poet and author. He is the founder and Executive Director of the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project. He was a pioneer of the Poetry Slam. Glazner is using Telepresence Robots to deliver programming and creative arts training in care homes. Glazner is a leading proponent of participatory arts.
Glazner BIO
I was a florist for 18 years…
Poetry Slam
“This is a photograph Glazner took in front of City Lights Bookstore in 1990. A stiletto boot on a stack of poetry books. It caught the spirit of the Poetry Slam and was published in two of the local papers announcing the launch of the Poetry Slam in San Francisco and became the model for the trophy for the first years of the National Poetry Slam.”
Alzheimer's Poetry Project
Gary Glazner is the founder and Executive Director of the Alzheimer's Poetry Project, (APP). The APP has provided programming in 35 states and internationally in Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Poland and South Korea. More info.
