Poetry, stories, art, and music from the desk of Jezzie G, a writer without a label
Form: Free Verse
I knew the touch of your lips before we kissed and I will know that bliss long after the kissing has stopped in the intimate moments between dusk and dawn I know all of you all over me naval touching naval belly against spine nothing is secret sating your desire fulfilling your need unlike anything else before or since yet always I leave you wanting a little bit more
©JGFarmer2020
Form: Haiku
ripples softly wash pebbled faces lifted up and dawn awakens
©JGFarmer2020
Yeats and a sonnet – you are spoiling me
Today’s sonnet is by W. B. Yeats. I pulled this poem from The Penguin Book of the Sonnet: 500 Years of a Classic Tradition in English, edited by Philip Levin.
References
Yeats, William Butler. “A Crazed Girl”. The Penguin Book of the Sonnet: 500 Years of a Classic Tradition in English. Philip Levin, editor. NY: Penguin Books, 2001. poem found on page 158.
Dedham Vale
1802
Romanticism
Oil on canvas
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
One of Constable’s first major paintings created when he was twenty-six between the end of the French revolutionary wars and the beginning of the Napoleonic wars. The tranquillity of the painting belies the wider political turmoil. Whilst Constable’s techniques were not yet fully developed the painting demonstrates his commitment to the close observation of nature. The viewer’s eye is led across the painting from the foreground along the river to the distant focal point of the distant tower of Dedham church.
John Constable
Romanticism, The Sublime in Art, Landscape Painters, British Art
Born: 11 June 1776, Suffolk, England
Nationality: English
Died: 31 March 1837, London, England
Constable, along with JMW Turner, revolutionized landscape painting of the 19th century. His paintings had a profound and far-reaching effect on European art. Moving away from the idealized landscapes, Constable favoured realistic depictions of the natural world through close observation
Form: Abbreviated Haiku I
to reach outside from within
the box
that holds me trapped inside walls
of thought
beneath the rocks of despair
and fear
that fear chaining my heart down
held fast
hidden behind the past hurts
and tears
tears I have refused to cry
but now
I weep all those unshed tears
alone
the walls around this old box
too thick
for love to reach my heart to
touch me
©JGFarmer2020
Germania
1993
Institutional Critique
Mixed media installation (broken marble, fiberglass mock coin, photography)
Haacke represented Germany to win the 1993 Venice Biennale with his Germania. The viewer is faced with a photograph of Adolph Hitler before entering the Germania pavilion. On top of this image, where a swastika was one place, Haacke displayed a replica of a West German coin, suggesting the recent reunification as a capitalist victory. The coin also represents the complex relationships of art, politics, and commerce. Inside, on the floor, several thousand pieces of shattered marble are piled representing the revisits, revisions, and subverts the relationship between Hitler and the German pavilion. Haacke’s destruction in art is mimicry of Hitler’s destruction of society and culture. Haacke’s referencing of German history depicts the extreme dangers of nationalism.
Hans Haacke
Conceptual Art, Institutional Critique
Born: 12 August 1936, Cologne, Germany
Nationality: German
Haacke invented modern activism as a political device for conceptual artists. Intervening through the space of a gallery or a museum his work decries the influence of corporations on society and the hypocrisy of liberal institutions that accept sponsorship from aggressive and conservative capitalists. His work challenges artwashing’s diversion from harmful practices of business es engaging in philanthropic engagement with art
Danny Deever
1890
‘What are the bugles blowin’ for?' said Files-on-Parade.
‘To turn you out, to turn you out,’ the Colour-Sergeant said.
‘What makes you look so white, so white?’ said Files-on-Parade.
‘I’m dreadin’ what I’ve got to watch,’ the Colour-Sergeant said.
For they’re hangin’ Danny Deever, you can hear the Dead March play,
The Regiment’s in ’ollow square—they’re hangin’ him to-day;
They’ve taken of his buttons off an’ cut his stripes away,
An’ they're hangin’ Danny Deever in the mornin’.
‘What makes the rear-rank breathe so ’ard?’ said Files-on-Parade.
‘It’s bitter cold, it's bitter cold,’ the Colour-Sergeant said.
‘What makes that front-rank man fall down?’ said Files-on-Parade.
‘A touch o’ sun, a touch o’ sun,’ the Colour-Sergeant said.
They are hangin’ Danny Deever, they are marchin’ of ’im round,
They ’ave ’alted Danny Deever by ’is coffin on the ground;
An’ ’e’ll swing in ’arf a minute for a sneakin’ shootin’ hound—
O they’re hangin’ Danny Deever in the mornin!’
‘’Is cot was right-’and cot to mine,’ said Files-on-Parade.
‘’E’s sleepin’ out an’ far to-night,’ the Colour-Sergeant said.
‘I’ve drunk ’is beer a score o’ times,’ said Files-on-Parade.
‘’E’s drinkin’ bitter beer alone,’ the Colour-Sergeant said.
They are hangin’ Danny Deever, you must mark ’im to ’is place,
For ’e shot a comrade sleepin’—you must look ’im in the face;
Nine ’undred of ’is county an’ the Regiment’s disgrace,
While they’re hangin’ Danny Deever in the mornin’.
‘What’s that so black agin the sun?’ said Files-on-Parade.
‘It’s Danny fightin’ ’ard for life,’ the Colour-Sergeant said.
‘What’s that that whimpers over’ead?’ said Files-on-Parade.
‘It’s Danny’s soul that’s passin’ now,’ the Colour-Sergeant said.
For they’re done with Danny Deever, you can ’ear the quickstep play,
The Regiment’s in column, an’ they’re marchin’ us away;
Ho! the young recruits are shakin’, an’ they’ll want their beer to-day,
After hangin’ Danny Deever in the mornin’!
Rudyard Kipling
Born: 30 December 1865, Mumbai, India
Nationality: English
Died: 18 January 1936, London, England
Kipling was a journalist, poet, short-story writer, and novelist. Kipling was born in India which inspired much of his work, including The Jungle Book and Kim
Disturbed
Disturbed is a heavy metal band from Chicago, formed in 1994. The line-up includes David Draiman on vocals, guitarist/keyboardist Dan Donegan, John Moyer on bass, and drummer Mike Wengren. With sales over 17 million they are one of the most successful bands of the modern era alongside Slipknot and Godsmack. The band has released seven studio albums, five consecutively debuting at number one on the Billboard 200
Land of Confusion
Album: Ten Thousand Fists
Date: 2005
Genre: Alt Metal
Lyrics Anthony George Banks, Phillip David Charles Collins, and Michael Rutherford
I must have dreamed a thousand dreams
Been haunted by a million screams
But I can hear the marching feet
They're moving into the street
Now, did you read the news today?
They say the danger has gone away
But I can see the fire's still alight
They're burning into the night
There's too many men, too many people
Making too many problems
And there's not much love to go around
Can't you see this is the land of confusion?
This is the world we live in
And these are the hands we're given
Use them and let's start trying
To make it a place worth living in
Oh, Superman, where are you now?
When every thing's gone wrong somehow?
Men of steel, these men of power
I'm losing control by the hour
This is the time, this is the place
So we look for the future
But there's not much love to go around
Tell me why this is the land of confusion
This is the world we live in
And these are the hands we're given
Use them and let's start trying
To make it a place worth living in
I remember long ago
When the sun was shining
And all the stars were bright all through the night
In the wake up this madness, as I held you tight
So long ago
I won't be coming home tonight
My generation will put it right
We're not just making promises
That we know we'll never keep
There's too many men, too many people
Making too many problems
And there's not much love to go around
Can't you see this is the land of confusion?
Now, this is the world we live in
And these are the hands we're given
Use them and let's start trying
To make it a place worth fighting for
This is the world we live in
And these are the names we're given
Stand up and let's start showing
Just where our lives are going to
Form: French sonnet
To cut the blooms or not to cut
To feel her pain or let it be
To let her grow in liberty
Yet if I take her bloom there’s a but
A sensual pang deep in my gut
My selfish want that fails to see
In the garden she is beauty
And in a vase she’s lost the lot
So I stand there, out in the rain
And see her tears reflect the pain
My secateurs would bring her soul
Her beauty here should thus remain
Her weeping cannot be in vain
In my garden she can be whol
©JGFarmer2020
I Am the Only Being Whose Doom
I am the only being whose doom
No tongue would ask, no eye would mourn;
I never caused a thought of gloom,
A smile of joy, since I was born.
In secret pleasure, secret tears,
This changeful life has slipped away,
As friendless after eighteen years,
As lone as on my natal day.
There have been times I cannot hide,
There have been times when this was drear,
When my sad soul forgot its pride
And longed for one to love me here.
But those were in the early glow
Of feelings since subdued by care;
And they have died so long ago,
I hardly now believe they were.
First melted off the hope of youth,
Then fancy’s rainbow fast withdrew;
And then experience told me truth
In mortal bosoms never grew.
’Twas grief enough to think mankind
All hollow, servile, insincere;
But worse to trust to my own mind
And find the same corruption there
Emily Brontë
Born: 30 July 1818, Thornton, UK
Nationality: English
Died: 19 December 1848, Haworth, UK
Brontë was a novelist and poet best known for her novel ‘Wuthering Heights.’ She published a collection of poems with her sisters Charlotte and Anne, ‘Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell,’ with her poems being regarded as poetic genius. She published under the pen name Ellis Bell
Gary Numan
Gary Numan is a singer, musician, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He began his career in the music industry as the frontman for Tubeway Army. In 1979, Numan started his solo career with the album The Pleasure Principle. A pioneer of electronic music Numan’s signature sound consists of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar pedals. In 2017 Numan received the Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors.
M.E.
Album: The Pleasure Principle
Date: 1979
Genre: Alternative/Indie
Lyrics by Gary Anthony James Webb
And m.e. I eat dust
We're all so run down
I'd call it my death
But I'll only fade away
And I hate to fade alone
Now there's only m.e.
We were so sure
We were so wrong
But now it’s over
But there's no one left to see
And there's no one left to die
There's only m.e.
Why should I care
Why should I try
Oh no, oh no
I turned off the pain
Like I turned off you all
Now there's only m.e
Form: Rannaicheacht Bheag
Blessed ploughman, the god of fields dressed
Divine child of a goddess, blessed
Of prodded earth his hands sealed quest
To yield harvest gods’ blessed
©JGFarmer2020
Originally the Italian Sestet had no set meter, but with its introduction to England by Edmund Spenser, English poets used iambic tetrameter or pentameter with the rhyme schema as follows:
abcabc
Example
Dream Catcher by Divena Collins
To catch a dream and hold it tight
You cherish it dear from the start
Time spent together so long ago
Was a time when love felt so right
Spiritual love shalt never depart
When love in our hearts doth flow.
To catch a dream we both shall share
Where good dreams pass on through
Eternal love shalt ne-er be denied
Sensual feelings are always there
Dreams shared forever come true
Where good dreams shalt be relied
Form: Sapphic Stanzas
A love found in nature’s glory,
A passion freed me from the pain,
The kiss that started our story
In summer’s rain.
Shelter in the trees’ green cascade,
A warm embrace the waters drain,
As we embarked on love’s crusade,
In summer’s rain.
The damsel in me has a need,
For the knight in you that is plain,
The tender lips that are my feed
In summer’s rain.
Saved from the cloud burst by your touch
Lovers unite in country lane
The tenderness I need so much,
In summer’s rain.
The fingers in my moist hands fall
The loving shoulders take the strain
Our pairing for love stands for all
The summers’ reign.
Pearls of dew that taste so sweet,
Forming like new tears on a chain,
Freshness of senses in the heat
In summer’s rain.
In storms we play hide and go seek
The claps of thunder will lay slain
By the power of love that speaks
In summer’s rain.
All through the days of sun we wait
For the first flash in windows pane,
Reach for the peaks of desire’s fate
In summer’s rain.
From you, my love, I never part,
My eternity, you remain,
Forever reigning in my heart
And summer’s rain
©JGFarmer2008
Jaws
1975
Film and TV
John Williams
Film and TV
Born: 8 February 1932, New York, United States
Nationality: American
Williams is a composer, pianist, and conductor regarded as the greatest film score composer of all time. He has composed some of the most popular, critically acclaimed, and most recognizable film scores in cinematic history and won 25 Grammy Awards, 7 British Academy Awards, 5 Academy Awards, and 4 Golden Globe Awards. Williams’ film scores include Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park, and Indiana Jones
Form: Epistle
I’m in that lonely place again, my love, making the choices I don’t want to make that leave my senses feeling wrecked and hopeless while desperately seeking a shard of doubt to change my mind. Now the hours of the owl lay in front of me, my body shattered but fighting back as my fingers tip-tap on the keys forming the words of making a living. Each paragraph and verse a step in successful healing, this I know, yet I feel I am failing; failing you; failing us.
Again I remind myself if my body is broken I am no use to you. If I am sleeping how do I bring you comfort and if I am awake while you sleep what use am I to you then? But still these are choices I don’t want to make as I ask the questions of my self when knowing the answer before the question is asked. Erring on the side of caution, I don’t doubt the choices are right until my imaginings here the doubt in your voice, doubt in my decisions or doubt in me, I don’t know which.
And here in the darkness, alone, my heart breaks.
©JGFarmer2020
Violin Concerto
1878
Classical
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Classical, Romantic
Born: 7 May 1840, Votkinsk, Russia
Nationality: Russian
Died: 6 November 1893, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Tchaikovsky was a Romantic composer and the first Russian composer to make a lasting international impression. In 1884 Tsar Alexander III honoured him with a lifetime pension. Tchaikovsky was educated for a career as a civil servant as there was little opportunity for a musical career in Russia and no public music education system. When the opportunity arose, he entered Saint Petersburg Conservatory, and graduated in 1865
I love the photography of Paul Militaru and I have wanted to write one of his images for a while now. This one has proven irresistable, My thanks to Paul for providing the inspiration. You can find more of Paul’s talent with a camera here
Romantic Thoughts…
Memories and tears
ripple gently on the waves
shimmering glimmers of love
of me and you
brief echoes of our moments
in time
before the darkness
and our dreams remained dreams
I’ve got better at it, darling
I’ve learned to see
the ripples of light in the night
of love reaching out
beyond…
beyond life.
©JGFarmer2020
This wonderful image inspires me, saving this one for my pen if that’s okay Paul?
….The Journey..
……….of life….
……..may not…..
……..become..
……….easier…
……as we grow….
………..older……..
……….but we…
……..do seem……
….to understand….
……….it better…….
………..as our……..
…..Perspectives..
…………Evolve……
Text and image source: WHISPERS page https://www.facebook.com/108030962700575/posts/1522941397876184/
Form: Free Verse Sonnet
Innocent eyes flicker open
Startled by cold water
A child, the gift of love
Receiving his name
As the old chapel bell rings
Announcing a new boy in the flock
A tiny piece of heaven
Draped in white cloth
Too young to understand
The promises made in his name
A child whose soul must repent
Sin made before his first breath
But to repent he must first be a man
And likes his Lord stand in the sacred waters
©JGFarmer2020
Form: Haiku
with questions of why
summer closes on autumn’s night
welcome winter white
©JGFarmer2020
Form: Haiku
raven wings soaring
intelligent eyes watching
his spirit my guide
©JGFarmer2020
Form: Enclosed Triplets
The swirling wind to touch the ground,
A sudden energy outbursts,
Yet its eye cannot see the found.
Above, a beauty to behold,
As it blindly wends its path,
Its wake of destruction unfolds.
Listen! A child's voice speaks of love,
Calling out to the angels there,
Mercy's prayer to powers above.
Surrounded by a violent rage
A child knelt in a calming peace,
Winds holding life within their sage
©JGFarmer2011
Got this Mr Capricorn spot on
“What if our religion was each other. If prayer, our words. What if the temple was Earth. If forests our church. If holy waters rivers and ocean. If the teacher was life. If wisdom was self-knowledge. If love was the center of our being.” ~Ganga White
Alas for those that never sing,
But die with all their music in them! ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Blessed be my little witch. To those who came before and those who will come after, know that the Goddess is with you always. Thank you all my dear readers…be blessed. ~GrannyMoon
Dark Moon – Time to Rest
New Moon – Time to Begin New Projects; Birth; Attraction
Waxing Moon – Time to Grow; Increase
Full Moon – Time to be Fulfilled; Abundance
Waning Moon – Time to Banish; Decrease
Last Sliver of Moon – Time to Die; Letting Go
Dark Moon – Time to Rest…
View original post 12,804 more words
Frozen solid
Claws dance on ice
Our first frost
Mottled reflection
Nature’s hammered glass shines
Sparrow’s throat is dry
Teapot’s hot water
Melted ice clear reflection
Gross Beak finds warm drink
La Boite-en-Valise (Box in a Suitcase)
1935-1941
Conceptual Art
Mixed Media
Fogg Museum, Massachusetts, USA
Like the kit of a travelling salesman, the Boite-en-Valise is one of twenty-four editions of a leather case containing sixty-nine miniature reproductions of Duchamp’s work. Each box offered different, hand-coloured art pieces fixed to the inside lid. Sections of the boxes slide out and unfold to show prints mounted on a black board.
Marcel Duchamp
Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, Conceptual Art, Kinetic Art
Born: 28 July 1887, Normandy, France
Nationality: French
Died: 2 October 1968, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
By challenging the notion of what is art with his readymades, Duchamp is one of few artists that changed the course of art history. He sent shock waves across the art world that are still rippling today
Orange Vendor
1916
Neo-Primitivism
Oil on canvas
Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
Beneath an arched doorway a Spanish woman dressed in brightly patterned traditional shawls balancing a tray of oranges on her head and more fruit in a basket in her hand. The painting appears as a painted collage.
Natalia Goncharova
Rayonism, Russian Futurism, Performance Art, Proto-Feminist Artists, Neo-Primitivism
Born: 21 June 1881, Nagaevo, Russia
Nationality: Russian
Died: 17 October 1962, Paris, France
Goncharova was an avant-garde artist, painter, writer, costume designer, set designer, and illustrator. Her lifelong partner was the fellow avant-garde artist Mikhail Larionov with whom she invented Rayonism. She was also a member of the German art movement Der Blaue Reiter. She moved to Paris in 1921 where she lived until her death. Her work profoundly influenced the Russian avant-garde
Form: Haiku
as the day closes
before night has time to fall
flames burn on water
©JGFarmer2020
Form: Raven’s Rovi Sonnet 75
A fine afternoon wine reflecting sun
Smooth sensual moments in golden hue
As it spirals wonder upon my tongue
Before evening falls and wine reflects night
In lascivious folds of velvet notes
Amorous and hungers for its delight
Like you and I making out dressed in coats
Just sweet with the subtle dryness of oats
Day or night, red or white, our senses spun
By the pungent grapes opening our sight
And I wonder ‘does my glass contain you?’
My lover, the joyous song of this man
Those delicate infusions see more than
Eyes; into my heart where this love began
©JGFarmer2020
Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann were a rock band formed in London, UK in 1962. Named after their keyboard player, who later led the successful 1970’s group Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, the band had two lead vocalists, Paul Jones 1962-66 and Mike d’Abo 1966-69
Ragamuffin Man
Album: Mannerisms
Date: 1969
Genre: Pop
Lyrics by Peter Callander and Mitch Murray
Born and raised as a rich man's son
You were always the restless one
Living high only made you low
So you packed up and hit the road
Hey, it's the Ragamuffin Man
Life was so grand, you used to stand
Holdin' your head up high
Look at you now, I wonder how
You can be satisfied
Stowed a ride on a westbound train
Called yourself by another name
Spent your nights in a mission home
Cast away the life that you'd known
Hey, it's the Ragamuffin Man
Life was so grand, you used to stand
Holdin' your head up high
Look at you now, I wonder how
You can be satisfied
As you rise in the mornin' rain
Take a look down that road again
Does the thought ever grab your mind
For the life that you've left behind?
Hey, it's the Ragamuffin Man
Life was so grand, you used to stand
Holdin' your head up high
Look at you now, I wonder how
You can be satisfied
Hey, it's the Ragamuffin Man
Ahhhhh, la la la la la la la
Hey, it's the Ragamuffin Man
L’Albatros
1861
Often, to amuse themselves, the men of a crew
Catch albatrosses, those vast sea birds
That indolently follow a ship
As it glides over the deep, briny sea.
Scarcely have they placed them on the deck
Than these kings of the sky, clumsy, ashamed,
Pathetically let their great white wings
Drag beside them like oars.
That winged voyager, how weak and gauche he is,
So beautiful before, now comic and ugly!
One man worries his beak with a stubby clay pipe;
Another limps, mimics the cripple who once flew!
The poet resembles this prince of cloud and sky
Who frequents the tempest and laughs at the bowman;
When exiled on the earth, the butt of hoots and jeers,
His giant wings prevent him from walking
Charles Baudelaire
Born: 9 April 1821, Paris, France
Nationality: French
Died: 31 August 1867, Paris, France
Baudelaire was a poet, essayist, art critic and a pioneer in the translation of Edgar Allan Poe. His most notable work, Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil), a book of lyric poetry in which the author expresses the changing nature of beauty in the mid -19th century Paris during a period of rapid industrialization.
Form: Raven’s Rovi Sonnet 74
My soul is falling into the pits of hell
Unexpressed sorrow churned around my pain
And in that sorrow drowned the tolling bell
Darkness silencing the whispering trees
As stillness echoes without nature’s song
In the hour of leaving there is no breeze
No feelings left, I no longer belong
There’s only silence where I once was strong
Cold hard time closing down the moonlight’s swell
As my body lies in the falling rain
And the rippling waves cease to reach the shore
My eyes, deserted by life, at dawn’s reprise
The spirit flown after what came before
Only twisted shadows remain, nothing more
©JGFarmer2020
Lake Isle of Innisfree
1890
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core
William Butler Yeats
Born: 13 June 1865, Sandymount, Ireland
Nationality: Irish
Died: 28 January 1939, Cannes, France
William Butler Yeats was a poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. A stoic pillar of the Irish literary establishment he helped found the Abbey Theatre and served as a Senator of the Irish Free State.
Metallica
Metallica is a heavy metal band, formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by James Hetfield (vocalist/guitarist) and Lars Ulrich (drummer). The band’s fast tempos, instrumentals and aggressive musicianship made them one of the big four bands of thrash metal, alongside Megadeath, Anthrax and Slayer. The current line-up consists of the founding members and primary songwriters Hetfield and Ulrich, Kirk Hammett (lead guitarist) and Robert Trujillo (bassist).
Sad But True
Album: Metallica
Date: 1991
Genre: Heavy Metal
Lyrics by James Alan Hetfield and Lars Ulrich
Hey I'm your life
I'm the one who takes you there
Hey I'm your life
I'm the one who cares
They, they betray
I'm your only true friend now
They they'll betray
I'm forever there
I'm your dream, make you real
I'm your eyes when you must steal
I'm your pain when you can't feel
Sad but true
I'm your dream, mind astray
I'm your eyes while you're away
I'm your pain while you repay
You know it's sad but true
Sad but true
You you're my mask
You're my cover, my shelter
You you're my mask
You're the one who's blamed
Do do my work
Do my dirty work, scapegoat
Do do my deeds
For you're the one who's shamed
I'm your dream, make you real
I'm your eyes when you must steal
I'm your pain when you can't feel
Sad but true
I'm your dream, mind astray
I'm your eyes while you're away
I'm your pain while you repay
You know it's sad but true
Sad but true
I'm your dream, I'm your eyes
I'm your pain
I'm your dream, I'm your eyes
I'm your pain
You know is sad but true
Hate I'm your hate
I'm your hate when you want love
Pay Pay the price
Pay, for nothing's fair
Hey I'm your life
I'm the one who took you here
Hey I'm your life
And I no longer care
I'm your dream, make you real
I'm your eyes when you must steal
I'm your pain when you can't feel
Sad but true
I'm your truth, telling lies
I'm your reasoned alibis
I'm inside open your eyes
I'm you
Sad but true
Form: Free Verse
There are places I love to go, where I belong
and I’ll never say where or why
when I have been to so many places already
but few call me back again and again
with a silent ‘come home’
a little village hidden among the lakes
an isolated place for a writer’s retreat
silent save for nature’s whisperings
as my soul echoes on the page
then the mountain that calls my spirit to climb
and sit upon her peak
reaching out to my gods
seeking the solace of the universe
for these are places that keep my peace
in solitude where life dare not disturb
the crusted mud on hiking boots
or the tranquillity in a moment of time
these are the places I let my spirit free
away from the glare of humanity
©JGFarmer2020
Structure: 14 lines
Meter: No meter requirement
Schema: No rhyme specified
Example
Tad-cu by Jez Famer
What star should I lean on
As I walk the path of life
Towards my destiny, my future, my death
Who is the star that leads me?
The shining example of doing it right
Who is the man who stands beside me
When seeking that second opinion
But trust only the instinct of self
To love with a wild abandon
Yet never revealing the intimate pain
By always moving forward without looking back
The one who told me there are no second chances
No if only regrets from the past
As the moment can never come again
A very old French verse form the Huitain consists of one eight-line stanza composed of ten-syllable lines. The verse is written over three rhymes and the two popular rhyme schemes are as follows:
ababbcbc
and
abbaacac
Example
Be thou like a rose by Ryter Roethicle
Be thou like a Rose my beloved
Let not thy thorns keep me away.
When I see thee I am resolved
So pray hold me and bid me stay.
My hasty actions thus betray
Thy womanly scent has drawn me,
Now drawn, and for my actions pay.
So helpless like the worker bee
Form: Haiku
reflections of light
fluttering in the dark trees
absorbed lunar beams
©JGFarmer2020
Kreisleriana
1838
Classical
Robert Schumann
Classical
Born: 8 June 1810, Zwickau, Germany
Nationality: German
Died: 29 July 1856, Bonn, Germany
Schumann was a composer, pianist, and music critic. Regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era, Schumann left the study of law to pursue a career as a pianist, but a hand injury ended his dream. Instead he turned his talents to composing and until 1840 he wrote exclusively for the piano. Later he composed for piano and orchestral works, and many Lieder
Form: Enclosed Triplets
As night-time closed around my mind,
I watched a lady rise above,
Within her face beauty defined.
Lady of night who stole my heart,
Led me to see beyond my eyes,
As drifting clouds made their depart.
The ancient songs echoed all night,
As eyes gazed upon lady's face,
A sultry smile, in lunar light.
All questions asked in ritual dance,
Out in the night where all is seen,
So live again in her romance
©JGFarmer2009
I Don’t Know How to Love Him
1972
Musicals
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Musicals, Film and TV
Born: 22 March 1948, London, UK
Nationality: English
Lloyd-Webber is a composer and impresario of musical theatre. Best known for his musicals, including ‘The Phantom of the Opera,’ ‘Evita,’ ‘Jesus Christ Superstar,’ and ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.’ Some of his musicals have run on the West End for more than a decade and on Broadway. A patron of the arts, in 1992 he set up Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation supporting arts, culture, and heritage in the UK
Form: Free Verse
our last journey down the old bumpy road
bouncing and swaying on our last ride
the same old track from dawn ‘til night
at sunrise bumping out to the fields
at sunset swaying back again
it has been our rhythm for all these years
but now it is the final ride
you’ve seen me through the seasons
from winter’s snow and summer’s sun
but now there is not much more to be done
and there’s not much further to go
I will miss you, old truck
my friend through thick and thin
turning the key there is only one thing left to say
as I retire to my final years
good-bye and thank you my old friend
©JGFarmer2020
Form: Enclosed Triplets
The stars shone down upon the ground,
While I sat strumming my guitar,
And time stood still and gathered round.
O'er the mountaintop glazed the moon,
While I sat strumming my guitar,
And saw the rocks that gods had hewn.
The bacon sizzled in the pan,
While I sat strumming my guitar,
As trees whispered of nature's plan.
The pinewood burned in the campfire,
While I sat strumming my guitar,
My senses climbing ever higher.
So when I need to rest my mind,
While I'm sat strumming my guitar,
It is mountains I come to find
©JGFarmer2014
Form: Dutch Sonnet
A man and wife revealing wealth and style
Amid restrained luxury holding hands
Echoes of richness lay scattered around
As the artist reflects in the background
His paint captured where they socially stand
Enigmatic faces without a smile
Her finely woven dress is trimmed with fur
Gathered in her hands as ladies prefer
He stands with that cold gentlemanly cool
All dressed in black, did Baroque have its goths
The paleness of face could that be the rule
A fixed gaze with no emotional frill
Sounds good to me in year 2020
Why change a good thing if it fits the bill
©JGFarmer2020
Patience is not sitting and waiting, it is foreseeing. It is looking at the night and seeing the day. Lovers are patient and know that the moon needs time to become full 🌕
♡✧☼ R u m i ☼✧♡
Image: Rose Water Butterfly – Karen Scotting Designs
Text and image source: Soul Healing Mystic’s Light https://www.facebook.com/1437542323150756/posts/2675269099378066/
The Flea limericks just lifted my humour today – thank you
There once was a flea with wings
And lots of other fine things
He didn’t need legs
And ate lots of eggs
And now up in heaven he sings
Form: Epistle
My lovely woman, I sat watching you tonight, watching from behind a book, from between the lines of Tolkien I watch you doing your household duties. This is what you asked me to do, it feels so surreal as by nature I am a doer not an observer but Frodo and Gandalf are there to occupy my thoughts a bit, well they try. It is a delicate balance I am still trying to find and I will find it because I love you and you want to be my wife and look after me. It does seem rather old fashioned put like that doesn’t it?
I want to break the silence, put my arms around you and say let me do something, and I struggle with that so absorb myself in Frodo being an ass somewhere in Middle Earth. Reading a book as a defensive technique to subdue my natural instinct – never thought I would do that. The worlds of fantasy have got me through many things I am sure they will do the same now.
My instincts and your desire should not be a battleground as we fathom the natural balance of you and me. On that my instincts are certain, and I focus on that, read some more Lord of the Rings then watch you again. More, being the same paragraph I have read three times already as my instincts fight back and I can’t get into it. I look at you and know it is worth it. Your eyes are alive and your grin speaks a thousand words. Words – come on, Tolkien, do your magic and take my thoughts into another comfort zone. In the name of love the hobbits’ bickering takes me for a while.
Always, all ways, your crazy-assed poet xxx
©JGFarmer2020
Painting
1946
Expressionism
Oil and pastel on linen
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
Layered images of this enigmatic painting blend into each other, giving a dreamlike, nightmarish quality. The outstretched skeletal wings of a bird seem to be perched upon a hanging carcass; a motif influenced by Rembrandt. In the foreground a well-dressed man sits in a circle enclosure which has been decorated with bones and another carcass.
Francis Bacon
Queer Art, School of London, Expressionism, British Art
Born: 28 October 1909, Dublin, Ireland
Nationality: Irish
Died: 28 April 1982, Madrid, Spain
Bacon was figurative painter best known for charged raw imagery. He created series of images with abstracted figures isolated in geometric cages, isolated on flat, nondescript backgrounds. His work focuses on a single subject for sustained periods of time and is often in diptych or triptych formats
Jezzie G 