Day: March 30, 2022

Wretched Destiny

~ JezzieG

Wretched Destiny
Form: Blank Verse

Where shall the love I feel find safe repose,
when darkness falls in crashing blasts of fear,
desire offers no hand of friendship here,
as love is held behind solitude.
Will time ever release the pain of want,
to roam in wasted lands of hatred's greed,
expose the shame to naked flames of rage,
extract each sense so I can safely sigh.
Yet in this light this love of beauty shines,
reflecting rainbow eyes in gems of thought,
as passion courts the worlds of coloured dreams,
express the thoughts of routine days of life.
Like honey nectar found in sweetened peach,
so love conveys bouquets of summer sun,
that warm the coldest chills of winter days,
the ghosts of passion haunt my lonely dreams.
Returned to dusky swaths ere darkness reigns,
these clouds of thunder gather round my heart,
all thoughts of love remain in distant places,
beyond the reach of wretched destiny

©JGFarmer2009

E Lucevan Le Stelle by Plácido Domingo

~ JezzieG

E Lucevan Le Stelle
1982
Opera

Plácido Domingo

Plácido Domingo
Opera
Born: 21 January 1941, Madrid, Spain
Nationality: Spanish

Placido Domingo is an opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He is well known for his versatility, performing in Italian, French, German, Spanish, English, and Russian in many of the most prestigious opera houses in the world. Domingo is primarily a Lirico-spinto tenor and is especially renowned for his Cavaradossi, Hoffmann, Don José and Canio as well as becoming the most acclaimed Otello of his generation

Manila Shawl by Kees van Dongen

~ JezzieG
Manila Shawl by Kees van Dongen

Manila Shawl
1907-09
Portraiture
Oil on canvas
Montreal Museum, Canada

Approximately half the canvas is dedicated to the exuberant, multi-coloured display of the flowers on the dress and shawl draped across the female figure whilst exposing her neck and shoulder. ‘Manila Shawl’ is an almost full-length figure painting reflecting van Dongen’s mastery of human proportion. The manila shawl decorated with peonies and Chinese-inspired scenery demonstrates the artist’s potential to create drama with fashion which was key to his popularity as a society portraitist.

Kees van Dongen

Kees van Dongen
Fauvism, Expressionism
Born: 26 January 1877, Delfshaven, Netherlands
Nationality: Dutch-French
Died: 28 May 1968, Monet Carlo, Monaco

Van Dongen was a painter and one of the leading Fauves. His early work was often influenced by the Hague School and symbolism evolved in a rough pointillist style and became more radical in the use of colour and form. Van Dongen is known for his sensuous, sometimes garish, portraits of women

Barzelletta Notes

~ JezzieG ~ 1 Comment

The Barzelletta is a quatrain composed of eight-syllable line couplets with a four-line refrain.. Originally written to be set to music and a suggested rhyme scheme:
aabb cddc eeff cddc gghh cddc and so on

Example

First Day Back by Jez Farmer

In crocodile line we filed in
Summer’s gone and lessons begin
As chattering voices catch-up
With new pencils and shiny cup

Teacher calling out all our names
Before we head out to our class
First maths then French, across the grass
A cup of milk then P.E games

In mid-day heat it’s time for lunch
Tables of eight sitting to munch
Before heading to the bike shed
And a quick smoke for the street cred

Afternoon passes all too slow
Geography dragging the bell
Rushing home to the bed room cell
Pulling on jeans letting it go

Battle Weary

~ JezzieG

Battle Weary
Form: Free Verse

The battle of self
enduring the wrath of personal hells
diving into the pools of fire
as the inner warrior fights
the demons consuming my soul
in a war of terror
the terror of personal truths
bound in the chains of social oppression
it will be worth it
that mighty axe grinding the bondage down
fleeing the burning agonies
ignoring the degradation in a lover’s eyes
acceptance
acceptance of self
that sweet freedom
a freedom denied by conditional love
demanding conformity to fit in
but that is not love
it has no place in the heart
it holds no hope for the soul
and in accepting that
a tranquillity came upon me
to surge through my veins in liberty
and I heard the gentle whisper of real love say
‘be you now’

©JGFarmer2022