Joy’s repertoire is expanding

Since late 2008 when I began working on my bluetry series, beginning with I Sing The Blues For You, which to date, has been published 5 times, I have been incorporating music into my performance poetry. More recently I decided to expand my repertoire by adding song to my performance and also to give listeners a break from my rants and raves which are very sad and sometimes overwhelming.

My neighbor, Wren Harrington, has been kind enough to take me on as a student. Ms. Harrington is a very accomplished singer and teacher. The first lesson consisted of breath exercises along with scales. I then begged her to help me with my first song that I had been miming alone and with Dubblex. Wren proclaimed that I improved greatly just in my first lesson.

I am so excited! I can't wait for lesson two.

In the meantime, here I am playing sing song all by my lonesome, plodding along.

Here below is the first song, Turning Point, that I know from listening to Nina Simone. If you click on the link you can watch at youtube.

Turning Point

The second song below can also be watched at youtube.

I Wish You Love


Gloria Lynne made the song I Wish You Love famous. According to what I read, Ms. Lynne, who recently passed on a few weeks ago, recorded this song thinking it was no big deal. It wasn't even one of her favorite numbers to perform, but audiences fell for the way she performed this number and it hit the top ten list quickly and became a hit.

For a while, Ms. Lynne was homeless, as she never received any monies from the records of most of her recordings. When asked why she continued to sing when she couldn't make a living, she replied, that singing was what she lived for. I am certain all of you artists can relate to that. It's certainly welcome to earn income for our art, but whether we earn or not, we continue to be artists. It's just so sad that so many artists during her time period were taken advantage of in this manner, and not given proceeds for the albums they made that sold.

The day after Ms. Lynne passed, I happened to be at a music jam on the lower east side, at University Of The Streets, and a woman sang this song in memory of Gloria Lynne, and did it justice too. This inspired me to move myself to the next level to add to my performance. It was also a sad moment for me because Mohammad, the guy who originally founded the University Of The Streets, was someone I'd met back in 1977. During that time Mohammad had many type programs at the University for the community. I happened to be walking by, looked up and saw the name of the organization and walked in. After that, I met with him frequently. My discussions with Mohammad was a focusing impetus in my decision to enter Columbia University, where I was a student in the Higher Education Opportunity Program, made eligible through poverty status and being disadvantaged educationally. I was the only white one in the program the entire 5 years I spent undergrad there.

I went to the music jam at University of the Streets with Demetrius Daniel and his friend Mark. Mohammad's photo sat large on a wall. Only the lady singing knew what I was talking about when I said the University used to be around the corner from where it currently was. She informed me that Mohammad had died a few year ago. This made me sad because I had always intended to stop by and see and thank him for our talks and now I can only thank him in my heart.

George R.R. Martin - reading and writing

Since Summer I've been spending a lot of time with George R.R. Martin. I read all 5 of his Game of Thrones series, because I was so fascinated with the HBO show, Game of Thrones. Each book was over 1000 pages, easily more than 6000 pages total at the rate of about 100 pages per day - sometimes, more - sometimes none if I was extremely busy. I usually always read on the train too. After reading all these books, I became curious as to Mr. R.R. Martin's other novels and there I began with The Armageddon Rag. I will be moving on to his other novels now.

George R.R. Martin mixes fact, fantasy, and fiction into a delicious cocktail made to spur and goad our insides to believe and question humanity and our purpose. Dialogue and inner conversations portray several levels, superficial, exploratory bestows significance on more subtle references or hidden meanings, devices and triggers that move us.

It is our choices that define us. All humans have these. Our alikeness internally ends here. We all think we know certain people but everyone of us can be surprised because we can only, after all, interpret others behaviors through a screen of our own experiences combined with birth circumstances and living, which normally infants have no power except their tears or laughter, which indeed, moves most of us to console or play with them. I don't need to tell you about the sick few - either perverts or crazies but they exist too - everywhere. Sometimes we too, if we choose, can be one of the perverts, or crazies who enjoy inflicting pain. Strangely, sometimes someone who does not enjoy inflicting pain on others may do it as a means of self-defense. We easily excuse trespasses done in defense on one's person or mental status, or those of us who defend weaker, like our children and friends we wish to help. Mr. R. R. Martin reminds that these truths exist on various levels. Usage of subconscious levels combines with using things we can't understand yet see, serve to emphasize this point.

Good read and I love the music quotes! Worth reading if only to see R.R Martin's creativity in weaving 60's and 70's lyrics from musicians so flawlessly into the plot. His weaving style and ability to do this is truly amazing and entertaining. I certainly wouldn't expect any less from him. 

:) I have been having a great deal of fun reading his entertaining writings!

Catch Me If You Can

If one was well enough to do everything one needed to do, to get relief one sought,

then one wouldn’t need the help he needs in the first place, would he?

Life is Catch 22 of the universe

He said, “I don’t understand why you insist on helping him,”

“I want to,” I said, “It’s a feeling I have to do and want to.

What difference does it make to you?”

While we waste time on bullshit

Epiphany strikes suddenly, a new sight, an oversight

The answer to the question that makes evil disappear

Warnings served years ago now come into play with global warming

Ignoring criticism about forefathers back in the day of humanity

Helps me to glimpse the truth that we'll never get away

Now technology makes it impossible to hide away

Know our religion, knows when we pray

Tracked by GPS, our cell phones, credit cards tracked, petition signing

Usage tallied and compiled daily

Threats to control humanity

Trickle down abuse flourishes

I try to spread the good word today

To foster peace in a world of abuse

Hope propagates, knowledge widens the scope,

more of us see the trickle down abuse encompassing earth

Come see, you know whom I mean! They ~ the big they, you know who they are,

They will not give us back this  great glorious land.
They fight for coin and silver.

Slowly we go to slaughter, like pigs, goats and cows,
we kill ourselves in their sham.

Forced to pay more than our share of taxes
It’s only paper you know, no more gold in Fort Knox
and, while the Masonry leads our government

Symbols lurk every place when you see

Small insidious devious concerns surround us, controlled

By society, daily news, TV, our jobs families, and our conscience

Our desires prevent our seeing

Facebook and twitter rule you can’t see

Enough to spin your head, dizzy, can’t comprehend why facebook

warns one not to add a lot of friends, you can only add so many each night

Isn’t adding friends a boon to Facebook?

Every day it becomes more difficult to understand the world I’m living in

They are not going to give our land back

If we don’t fight for our rights,
if we don’t take  back from the usurpers who have stolen our planet,
we can’t inherit the earth by common assent,
agree our land is not sold for gold, this land is god’s gift,
is not ours to give or buy, but to love and care for like we do our children …

This land is your land,

This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and Me.

America The Meager (sestina revised) For poets who don't believe in editing!!!

Alive burning with fire consumes me                                                               

Ready freedom burns me                                                                    

World full of disputes                                                                                     

House of ill repute                                                                                          

Esteem pollutes forbidden fruit                                                                       

Pursuit of dreams                                                                                            

American happiness is not pursuit of dreams                                                   

American dream a lie, fire consumes me                                                          

Covered clotted cream, forbidden fruit                                                                       

Deceit, the lie of the American dream burns me                                             

Life in the house of ill repute                                                                          

Americans drenched in disputes                                                                      

Freedom from consumerism                                                                            

Important to pursue the dream                                                                       

Caught up in ill repute                                                                                    

Desires feeds disputes                                                                                     

Dirty hands burn me                                                                                       

For sale, buy my forbidden fruit                                                                      

Can’t hide away forbidden fruit                                                          

Lust consumes me                                                                                          

Thirst so strong, it burns me                                                                           

Cravings coerced, reimbursed dreams                                                             

Yearnings lead to disputes                                                                               

Borne and bred of ill repute                                                                            

Iraq, Beirut, wars of ill repute                                                                         

Oil the biggest forbidden fruit                                                                        

Observing abuse consumes me                                                                        

Obliterating abuse causes disputes                                                                  

Inflicting suffering drowns dreams                                                                   

Blues burn me                                                                                                 

Trickle-down abuse burns me                                                                         

Weak forced to accept ill repute                                                                     

Eradicates man’s right to dream                                                                      

Access to achieve forbidden fruit                                                                     

Denials of basic rights consume me                                                               

Animal abuse and pollution, root of many disputes                                         

Equity and decency consume me, fear burns me                                             

Disputes, hurt heart, search escape from ill repute                                                      

Forbidden fruits multiply wealthy; cancel out poor man’s dreams       

***
Oftentimes as editor for the TCSR, people will send me poems to ask for thoughts or advice. When I honestly point out a misspelling or misuse of word, or give an example of what could improve the poem, i.e. changing a few words around, the biggest response I get is "I don't believe in editing my poems. The poem comes out the first time the way it should be." 

Well, here is the proof that it really helps to work on a poem, to edit errors, and to reconsider word usage. It makes a difference. 

As you can see, in the earlier version, inadvertently I used consume twice in two lines in one stanza which led to repetition, and since this form is essentially repetitious in its form, it works better to use a different word ending for each line of each stanza. 

Any thoughts fellow poets?

AMERICA THE MEAGER (sestina)

Alive burning with fire consumes me

Ready freedom burns me

Disputes consume me

House of ill repute

Esteem pollutes forbidden fruit

Pursuit of dreams

American happiness is not pursuit of dreams

American dream a lie, fire consumes me

Covered clotted cream, forbidden fruit

Deceit, the lie of the American dream burns me

Life in the house of ill repute

Americans, wish I weren’t consumed

Freedom from consumerism

Important to pursue the dream

Caught up in ill repute

Desire consumes me

Dirty hands burn me

For sale, buy my forbidden fruit

Can’t hide away forbidden fruit

Lust consumes me

Thirst so strong, it burns me

Cravings coerced, reimbursed dreams

Yearnings consume me

Borne and bred of ill repute

Iraq, Beirut, wars of ill repute

Oil the biggest forbidden fruit

Observing abuse consumes me

Obliterating abuse consumes me

Inflicting suffering drowns dreams

Blues burn me

Trickle down abuse burns me

Weak forced to accept ill repute

Eradicates man’s right to dream

Access to achieve forbidden fruit

Denials of basic rights consumes me

Animal abuse and pollution consume me

Wrenched heart, fear consumes and burns me
Equity and decency consume me, searching escape from ill repute Forbidden fruits multiply wealthy citizens; cancel out poor man’s dreams

This is written in sestina form:

1st Stanza   ABCDEF 

2nd Stanza  FAEBDC

3rd Stanza  CFDABE

4th Stanza  ECBFAD

5th Stanza  DEACFB

6th Stanza  BDFECA

The last 3 lines are formatted thus

AB

CD

EF

Searching For Sunshine

Ain’t no sun up in my sky today

Rain keeps falling on my head

Got the blues so bad I’m dancing with fire

in hellish nights with no end

Promises and dreams not in sight

No delight in life

a bout inside, an an endless fight

in a world where nothing’s right

No sun up in my sky, too down to cry

waiting on motivation that can't come

Dream daily

Lying awake waiting for my lover to come on home

Frustration growing

waiting on lover makes me quirky that way

Comes sneaking through the bedroom 

door in the dead of night

Bed bathed in moonlight

Soft red hair brushes my shoulder

Our promises of together forever have grown older

Each day colder

As she lies down beside me

My eyes closed, pretend I’m asleep

Awake to an empty bed

Gone, left

With words unsaid

Sadness never ends

Never thought we’d end that way

Rain taps on windowpane

Listen in solitary solace

Left me on a rainy day

Called later, said she had to go,

Had someone waiting on her

Someone easier to abide, 

Someone to turn the tides

Someone to resolve dissatisfaction

Permeating our relations

Someone older, more mature

Someone sensitive who knew

how to make love

Someone who understood

Standing in the rain, alone

Clothes drenched through to skin

Each day hope rain will go away

tears blending with rain

sun’s gone away

rains refuse to abate