Poetry, stories, art, and music from the desk of Jezzie G, a writer without a label
Octet
1900
Classical
George Enescu
Classical, Opera
Born: 19 August 1881, Romania
Nationality: Romanian
Died: 4 May 1955, Paris, France
Enescu was a composer, violinist, conductor, and teacher. He is regarded as one of the greatest Romanian musicians in history
If All the Skies
If all the skies were sunshine,
Our faces would be fain
To feel once more upon them
The cooling splash of rain.
If all the world were music,
Our hearts would often long
For one sweet strain of silence,
To break the endless song.
If life were always merry,
Our souls would seek relief,
And rest from weary laughter
In the quiet arms of grief
Henry Van Dyke
Born: 10 November 1852, Pennsylvania, USA
Nationality: American
Died: 10 April 1933, New Jersey, USA
Van Dyke was an author, educator, diplomat, clergyman, and poet. Various religious themes are often expressed in his poetry, hymns, and essays. Van Dyke composed the lyrics of the hymn ‘Joyful, Joyful! We Adore Thee’
Wake Me Up When September Ends
Album: American Idiot
Date: 2004
Genre: Alternative/Indie
Artist: Green Day
Green Day are a rock band formed in California in 1987 by Billie Joe Armstrong (lead vocalist and guitarist) and Mike Dirnt (bassist and backing vocalist), with Tré Cool (drummer) joining in 1990. The bad is credited with bringing punk rock to the mainstream in the USA
Pan Pipes
Form: Free verse
Dancers weaving through the forest trees
Like Red Riding Hood skipping to Grandmas’ house
Along the path of sweet melodies
A plethora of songs carried by the breeze
Its notes meandering
Where their bodies sway
And the tress echo
They sound like a mellow cello
With fast fingers playing
Deep among the trees
A dark figure is standing
Playing his flute as he waits alone
A tune sublime where the dancers gather
Without a care
And he leads them to dance
As the tempo climbs
His cloven feet making time
©JezzieG2024
La Source du Calme (The Source of Calm)
2002
Abstract Expressionism
Carborundum etching on hand-made paper
RoGallery, Long Island City, NY, USA
‘La Source du Calme’ is Matta’s final work. It exhibits bright colours, simplified figures, and a spiritual mindset. Matta turned to more mystical and mythological themes in his latter work expressing similar sentiments as the authors of the Latin-American literary renaissance such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Roberto Matta
Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Modern Art
Born: 11 November 1911, Santiago, Chile
Nationality: Chilean
Died: 23 November 2002, Civitavecchia, Italy
Matta was one of Chile’s best-known artists. He is a seminal figure of the abstract expressionist and surrealist art of the 20th -century
Henry King
1907
The Chief Defect of Henry King
Was chewing little bits of String.
At last he swallowed some which tied
Itself in ugly Knots inside.
Physicians of the Utmost Fame
Were called at once; but when they came
They answered, as they took their Fees,
“There is no Cure for this Disease.
“Henry will very soon be dead.”
His Parents stood about his Bed
Lamenting his Untimely Death,
When Henry, with his Latest Breath,
Cried, “Oh, my Friends, be warned by me,
That Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch, and Tea
Are all the Human Frame requires…”
With that, the Wretched Child expires
Hilaire Belloc
Born: 27 July 1870, La-Celle-Saint-Cloud, France
Nationality: French-English
Died: 16 July 1953, Surrey, England
Belloc was a writer, historian, poet, orator, satirist, sailor, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist of the early 20th century. His work was inspired by his Catholic faith. Belloc became a naturalise subject of Britain whilst maintaining his French citizenship in 1902. He was president of the Oxford Union and from 1906 to 1910 he served as MP for Salford South
Poet: Lisa Zaran
Born: 26 September 1969, California, USA
Nationality: American
Zaran is a poet, essayist, and editor of Contemporary American Voices. She is best known for her collection of poetry ‘The Sometimes Girl’ (2004).
One of four children Zaran’s parents were of Norwegian origin. She moved over 40 times across the western USA and Alaska before the age of 16, attending both public and private schools as well as Lutheran and Christian academies. Throughout her youth, Zaran spent time reading poetry and listening to music through the closed door of her older brother’s bedroom. The poetic influences from her youth include James Whitcomb Riley, Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and the Bible, with musical influences from The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Mozart, and Pavarotti. Zaran wrote her first poem “Hallway” at the age of six. Throughout her high school years, Zaran contributed anonymously to her local high school paper.
Zaran married in 1990 and had two children in the following two years. She began writing “The Sometimes Girl” (2004) in the early years of her marriage, a collection noted for saying the right thing at all times. Soon after its publication Zaran emerged as a poet who allowed infinite access to her core with works such as “Talking to My Father Whose Ashes Sit in the Closet and Listen,” “Girl,” and “Tenderness.”
In 2004 Zaran published “You Have a Lovely Heart,” a chapbook exploring the beautiful landscape of Southwestern Arizona.
In 2005 Zara released a 22-poem collection online at Argonauts’ Boat, as a prelude into her next full collection ‘The Blondes Lay Content’ (2006). She also published ‘Subtraction Flower’ (2006) a chapbook she dedicated to her mother.
Zaran’ continues to publish work in magazines, ezines, journals, and anthologies across the globe.
You Are the Mountain by Lisa Zaran
At one end of the couch
you sit, mute as a pillow
tossed onto the upholstery.
I watch you sometimes
when you don’t know I’m watching
and I see you. Who you are.
You are a self made man.
Hard suffering. You are grey
stone and damp earth.
A long scar on a pale sky.
The television is tuned to CNN.
The world’s tragedies flicker
across your face like some
foreign film.
You are expressionless.
Your usual gestures ground to salt.
How do you explain yourself
to people that do not know you?
How do you explain to them,
this is me; that is not me.
However many words you choose
in whatever context with
whichever adjectives you use
could not compare.
Even you describing you
would not be you.
Not totally.
Your hands are folded
together, resting in your lap.
I study those hands until
every groove becomes familiar.
Like a favorite hat,
you wear your silence
comfortably.
I sometimes can not help
but wonder what we will
talk about if we ever
run out of things to say.
You are the curve
I burrow into. The strength
I borrow. You are the red sun
rising over the mountain.
You are the mountain
Shattered Punches
Form: Free verse
a life that isn’t my own
shattered by mirrors
and punching the walls of depression
late nights in the company of whiskey
as thoughts blur in crystal glass
until the shards make the marks of release
my heart and mind aching
taunted by femininity I cannot understand
and the echoes repeating the words
‘it’s breaking the rules of gods’ creation’
and like the creation I am broken
crippled by tears I cannot dry
for I am not just a gender
but a body out of sync
with self and life
©JezzieG2024
Johannes Cuspinian
1502
Northern Renaissance
Oil on wood
Private Collection
‘Johannes Cuspinian’ is a portrait of a stout man in a deep fur robe and a red hat. He holds a heavy book as he gazes out of the frame with an expression suggests a thinking man or scholar. Cuspinian was an Austrian polymath, diplomat, and political commentator who was studying and teaching in Vienna at the time Cranach created the painting
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Northern Renaissance
Born: 1472, Kronach, Germany
Nationality: German
Died: 16 October 1553
Cranach the Elder was a painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He was the court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career. Cranach the Elder is best known for his portraits of German princes and leaders of the Protestant Reformation. Throughout his career he also painted nude subjects drawn from both mythology and religion
Ne me quitte pas
1959
Chanson Francaise
Jacques Brel
Popular music, Modern Chanson
Born: 8 April 1929, Schaerbeek, Belgium
Nationality: Belgian
Died: 9 October 1978, Bobigny, France
Brel was a singer, actor, and composer best known for composing and performing theatrical songs. He generated a large and devoted following across the world and is considered a master of the modern chanson
Day 98
No Prompt
Hi Nigel,
‘Hiya! Oh good. So let’s get started’
Looking at my coffee – it isn’t that strong, but okay
‘Given some of our chats I think we could be devils in disguise?
Are you wearing a disguise then?
‘Haha! No, I think I am going to be brashly proud of my wicked naughtiness’
So you should be
‘I can see some people won’t like it’
And?
‘Well, you know perhaps…’
You should pretend to be someone else to make them happy. Seriously, Nige!!!!
‘You have a point’
Nigel – would you pretend to be straight to make me happy?
‘No, I would not? Do you want me to?’
No, I bloody don’t want you to. My point is why should you bury yourself to please anyone
‘It’s not the same thing, is it?’
Isn’t it?
‘It probably is actually.’
There are times to curb it to suit the environment you are in, but if you are burying to make life pleasant and to keep someone close then ask yourself the question
‘What question?’
Why are you wearing a disguise?
‘True’
An old quote to remember ‘Those that matter won’t mind, those that mind don’t matter’
‘That says it all, it really does’
And on so many levels
‘Haha! Yes. Being true to self matters’
So are you wearing a disguise?
‘Not with you, bud. Not much point, it wouldn’t fool you for a nano second’
Be proud of who you are, mate. See you tomorrow, Nige
©JezzieG2024
Inspired by and written for the Ragtag Daily Prompt, with thanks to Sgeoil
Form: Pathya Vat 1
Emotions crash
Unimportant
Words impotent
Crushing feeling
The smile plays game
Engaging trust
That truth will bust
The toy broken
©JezzieG2024
Good Old Moon
When I was a boy I called the moon a
white plate of jade, sometimes it looked
like a great mirror hanging in the sky,
first came the two legs of the fairy
and the cassia tree, but for whom the rabbit
kept on pounding medical herbs, I
just could not guess. Now the moon is being
swallowed by the toad and the light
flickers out leaving darkness all around;
I hear that when nine of the burning suns out
of the ten were ordered to be shot down by
the Emperor Yao, all has since been quiet
and peaceful both for heaven and man,
but this eating up of the moon is for me
a truly ugly scene filling me with forebodings
wondering what will come out of it
Li Po
Born: 701, Sichuan, China
Nationality: Chinese
Died: 762, Dangtu, China
Li Po was a poet, acclaimed from his own time to the present as one of the greatest poets of the Tang dynasty and in Chinese history. He was one of the most prominent figures in the growth of poetry under the Tang dynasty, also known as the Golden Age of Chinese Poetry
Bronnie
Form: Refrain
Old Welsh wisdom crooned from her loving spoon,
amid the scent of laverbread,
myth and magic aroused the dragon’s tune,
and sent me smiling to my bed.
Myth and magic aroused the dragon’s tune,
o’er the valleys and in my head,
old Welsh wisdom crooned from her loving spoon,
and sent me smiling to my bed.
Old Welsh wisdom crooned from her loving spoon,
daffodils bow to words she said,
myth and magic aroused the dragon’s tune,
and sent me smiling to my bed.
Myth and magic aroused the dragon’s tune,
upon the harp whose music fed
old Welsh wisdom crooned from her loving spoon,
and sent me smiling to my bed
©JezzieG2024
Venus
Album: True Confessions
Date: 1986
Genre: Dance Pop
Artist: Bananarama
Bananarama are a girl band formed in London in 1980. Originally a trio consisting of friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey, and Keren Woodward. Fahey left the group in 1988 to be replaced by Jacquie O’Sullivan until 1991 when the trio became a duo
Installation for the Eighth Secessionist Exhibition
1900
Interior Design
Wood, glass, textiles
Invited by the architect of the Viennese Secession, Josef Hoffman, Mackintosh and his wife, Margaret, presented a collaborative design for ‘The Scottish Room’ at the 8th annual exhibition of the movement held in Vienna. The installation is a recreation of the many tea room interiors designed by Mackintosh in Glasgow.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Art Nouveau, The Vienna Secession, Symbolism
Born: 7 June 1868, Glasgow, Scotland
Nationality: Scottish
Died: 10 December 1928, London, England
Mackintosh was an architect, designer, water colourist and artist. His approach and stylistics had much in common with European Symbolism and his work, alongside that of his wife Margaret MacDonald, is considered to have been influential on European design movements such as Art Nouveau and Secessionism. Mackintosh is considered to be among the most influential figures of Modern Style and British Art Nouveau
Marechiare
1938
Classical
Beniamino Gigli
Classical, Opera
Born: 20 March 1890, Recanati, Italy
Nationality: Italian
Died: 30 November 1957, Rome, Italy
Gigli was a lyric tenor opera singer, widely regarded as one of the greatest tenors of his generation
Day 97
Prompt: You shouldn’t have said it
Hi Nigel,
‘Hiya! Too many times has that happened.’
Haha! You are human after all
‘And there are the times you really shouldn’t have said it, but it was so worth it’
Absolutely. They are indeed priceless
‘I had no doubt you would get that’
It’s no secret I have an acidic tongue and sometimes it’s pure venom when I need it to be
‘Useful it is too. You are not shocked by that about me?’
Oh Nige, you didn’t stand a chance of avoiding it – we are all blessed with the Walker tongue
‘Ahh! I think we can call that good breeding, don’t you?’
‘Haha! I don’t think we could call it anything else
‘And I hope like me, you can take it when on the receiving end’
I was married to Gabs, damn right I can take it
‘Haha! And there was me thinking you two shared only the nice traits’
No, we shared all the good ones
‘Haha! Good meaning you two were a sodding nightmare if you had to team up’
Haha! No comment
‘Oh, that laugh was sheer evil’
Haha!
‘I am utterly shocked’
Like hell you are
‘Worth a try’
What are you trying for – angel wings?
‘Oh gods no that would be so bloody boring’
Don’t fancy posing on a cloud playing a harp then
‘Nope, that would be my idea of sheer bloody hell’
Haha! And that is why we get along so well
‘I know you would use the harp as a weapon to get off the cloud’
Hmm!
‘Uh oh!’
What?
‘Something sick went through your not-innocent brain’
Well, dissecting cherubs and angels could be fun – in the name of fiction of course
‘Haha! And in the name of painting too’
Now who has a wicked laugh. See you tomorrow, Nige
©JezzieG2024
Inspired by and written for Weekend Writing Prompt – Thank you, Sammi
Form: Free Verse
An earnest curiosity
Plays questions on the mind
In the determined silence
Left by pain
Fixed and resolved by band-aids
Platitudes of hope
The heart remains hell-bent
Plying deeper interrogations
But the answers never come
A goalless meandering like a diversion
On the way
For life is not a straight arrow
Aimed true to its final point
Before the wind blew it off course
Like an unresolved dilemma of indecision
And really there is only one question
That always needs to be asked
What is the purpose
Behind it all
Word count: 91
©JezzieG2024
Inspired by and written for the Ragtag Daily Prompt, my thanks to Dr Kottaway and two adorable cats
If nature can do it…
Form: Haiku
Cold unforgiving
Winds blow into spring’s first days
As seasons unite
©JezzieG2024
Lauda Sion
Religious Music
François Couperin
Classical
Born: 10 September 1688, Paris, France
Nationality: French
Died: 11 September 1733, Paris, France
Couperin was a Baroque composer, organist, and harpsichordist, He is referred to as Couperin le Grand to distinguish him from the other members of the musical Couperin family
First snow
First snow
falling
on the half-finished bridge
Matsuo Basho
Born: 1644, Iga Province, Japan
Nationality: Japanese
Died: 28 November 1694, Osaka, Japan
Matsuo Bashō was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. He was recognized for his poetry in the hakai no renga form during his lifetime. Today he is considered the greatest hokku, haiku master. Bashō’s poetry is globally renowned and in Japan, his poems are reproduced on monuments and other traditional sites. Although justifiably famous for his hokku, he believed his best work was leading and participating in renku
Ghost Dance
Form: Free Verse
The drum beats fast the heart beats faster still
pulsating rhythm calling days of old
rejecting doctrines from the Burning Times
that led to rape and torture before death
upon the flaming pyre to feed the cross
on stolen lands, they claimed their gold and wealth
yet left our world to burn and die in filth
my heart beats faster in their poisoned air
Forget not the burning times
©JezzieG2024
Under a Violet Moon
Album: Under a Violet Moon
Date: 1999
Genre: Folk
Artist: Blackmore’s Night
Blackmore’s Night is a neo-medieval folk-rock band formed in 1997. Consisting of mainly Ritchie Blackmore (acoustic guitar, hurdy-gurdy, mandola, mandolin, nyckelharpa, and electric guitar) and Candice Night (lead vocalists, lyricist, and woodwinds). The band has released eleven studio albums
Hogs Killing a Rattlesnake
c. 1930
American Realism
Oil on canvas
The Art Institute of Chicago, USA
Curry is best known for his socially and historically located canvases and murals of actual people, communities, and geographies. However, ‘Hogs Killing a Rattlesnake’ is a move into a rarefied space. With its violent and verdant composition centered around a dark hole in the trunk of the tree, the painting communicates a sense of vitality within the natural world’s forces with a pounding rhythm and energy celebrating the pulse and cycle of life and death
John Steuart Curry
American Realism, American Regionalism
Born: 14 November 1897, Kansas, USA
Nationality: American
Died: 19 August 1946, Wisconsin, USA
Curry was a painter noted for his depictions of rural life in his home state of Kansas. Alongside Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood, Curry was hailed as one of the three great painters of American Regionalism of the early 20th century
Day 96
Prompt: Have you ever been on television?
Hi Nigel,
Hiya! Hell, no and I would avoid it like the plague. Have you?’
Yes, twice, and you are right to avoid it like the plague
‘It is that hideous then’
Yes, and some
‘What on earth made you do it? It seems a bit out of character for you to say the least.’
The school choir and bloody Joseph
‘Come again?’
That’s enough said mate
‘Haha! Have you lived it down yet?’
Totally and there is, thankfully, zero evidence in the archives of TV
‘Didn’t you video it?’
To my eternal gratitude that wasn’t an option back then
‘Haha! Back in the dark ages of the mid-70s then’
Yes, oh they were wonderful
‘You really don’t like technology and media?’
Loathe it, but what can one do but live with it and try and avoid the world of snowflakes it has created
‘Snowflakes being the ones with opinions that get easily offended you would throw to the gladiators as lion feed?’
Haha! I wouldn’t do that
‘Huh, I don’t believe you’
Believe me, I think more of lions than to let them eat snowflakes
‘Ah, your compassion for lions would win out.’
Naturally, they are beautiful, majestic cats, why spoil their diet with retards and fuck wits. Give me some credit, I may not be as animal-orientated as you but really? Besides the gladiators would dispose of them in some delicious gory way without harming any animals
‘The ancient civilizations did have some wicked methods of execution; it has to be said.’
Indeed, they make hanging, drawing, and quartering seem relatively painless
‘Which ones did the spike through the guts and being left to die?’
That special treat was the reward for treason against the mighty Pharaohs of Egypt. I guess you have been reading my books again
‘Haha! You think?
Haha! I know
‘There aren’t many places one can jump from Peter Rabbit to methods of execution throughout history.’
Whatever inspires you, mate
‘It would make awesome but gruesome art – which would be cool’
Nige, you are one sick puppy sometimes.
‘I ain’t the one who bought the book – so woof right back at ya’
Haha! Fair enough. See you tomorrow, Nige
©JezzieG2024
Inspired by and written for the Ragtag Daily Prompt, my thanks to Martha Kennedy
Form: Bina
Created to generate fear
To avoid it we must live their way
Religion is the fear of going the wrong way
Yet spirituality is found fighting through fear
Be brave, my son, face your fear and follow your own way
©JezzieG2024
Kol Nidre
1996
Avant-Garde
John Zorn
Jazz, Avant-Garde
Born: 2 September 1953, New York, USA
Nationality: American
Zorn is a composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger, and producer who intentionally resists categorization. His avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation including jazz, rock, hardcore, classical, surf, contemporary, ambient, metal, and world music
Eating and Drinking chapter VI
1923
Then an old man, a keeper of an inn, said, “Speak to us of Eating and Drinking.”
And he said:
Would that you could live on the fragrance of the earth, and like an air plant be sustained by the light.
But since you must kill to eat, and rob the young of its mother’s milk to quench your thirst, let it then be an act of worship,
And let your board stand an altar on which the pure and the innocent of forest and plain are sacrificed for that which is purer and still more innocent in many.
When you kill a beast say to him in your heart,
“By the same power that slays you, I to am slain; and I too shall be consumed. For the law that delivered you into my hand shall deliver me into a mightier hand.
Your blood and my blood is naught but the sap that feeds the tree of heaven.”
And when you crush an apple with your teeth, say to it in your heart,
“Your seeds shall live in my body,
And the buds of your tomorrow shall blossom in my heart,
And your fragrance shall be my breath,
And together we shall rejoice through all the seasons.”
And in the autumn, when you gather the grapes of your vineyard for the winepress, say in you heart,
“I too am a vineyard, and my fruit shall be gathered for the winepress,
And like new wine I shall be kept in eternal vessels.”
And in winter, when you draw the wine, let there be in your heart a song for each cup;
And let there be in the song a remembrance for the autumn days, and for the vineyard, and for the winepress
Khalil Gibran
Born: 6 January 1883, Bsharri, Lebanon
Nationality: Lebanese-American
Died: 10 April 1931, New York, USA
Gibran was a writer, poet, and visual artist. He was also considered to be a philosopher although he rejected the title. Best known as the author of ‘The Prophet,’ first published in 1923 and went on to become one of the all-time best-selling books. ‘The Prophet’ has been translated into over 100 languages, Gibran was born in a village of the Ottoman-ruled Mount Lebanon Mutsarrifate and emigrated to the United States with his mother and siblings in 1895. At fifteen he was sent back to the Lebanon to enrol at the Collège de la Sagesse in Beirut. He returned to Bost when his youngest sister died in 1902. His mother and older half-brother died the following year
Another New World
Form: Free Verse
Walking through this modern life
Sometimes the path breaks easily underfoot
Marking changes in direction
And choices to be made
As the questions of destiny
Offer opportunities to learn
And a new path of lessons
Brand new experiences to gain
About life, beyond life
And of my own existence
In a new world of my fate
To explore all that is waiting
Hidden in the depths of my own unknown
The depths of my subconscious
Once seen in a surrealistic dream
So many doors waiting to be unlocked
With the keys of an open mind
©JezzieG2024
Talking
Album: Listen
Date: 1983
Genre: Pop
Artist: A Flock of Seagulls
A Flock of Seagulls are a new wave band formed in Liverpool, UK in 1979. Their best-known line-up consisted of Mike Score, Ali Score, Frank Maudsley, and Paul Reynolds. The band hit the peak of their chart success in the early 1980s
Glasgow School of Art
1899-1909
Architecture
‘Glasgow School of Art’ stands as a shining example of Mackintosh’s early pluralist architecture. The building was made of stone about the Scottish Baronial tower houses which he considered incredibly modern in their use of iron and glass. Sensitive to the surrounding architecture and existing traditions Mackintosh also added his own free-style aesthetics and seamlessly merged a wide variety of influences
Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Art Nouveau, The Vienna Secession, Symbolism
Born: 7 June 1868, Glasgow, Scotland
Nationality: Scottish
Died: 10 December 1928, London, England
Mackintosh was an architect, designer, watercolourist, and artist. His approach and stylistics had much in common with European Symbolism and his work, alongside that of his wife Margaret MacDonald, is considered to have been influential on European design movements such as Art Nouveau and Secessionism. Mackintosh is considered to be among the most influential figures of Modern Style and British Art Nouveau
Day 95
Prompt: Would you prefer to live by the ocean or near the mountains?
Hi Nigel
‘Hiya! And that is unfair as I love both’
Absolutely
‘Is there any way to have the best of both?’
Live in Wales
‘Really?’
Yes, Snowdonia isn’t exactly far from the beach
‘No wonder you love Wales’
Cymru am beth! It goes without saying really
‘And then there is the ancestry, of course’
Keeping up with Joneses is not that easy and takes us some way from both mountains and beach, but there is a family line to Betws-y-Coed which is in Snowdonia but guess what
‘That’s where it gets complicated’
Yeahp. Dai and Jones were very common names during the mid-19th, so working out which is our man is not going to be easy
‘No wonder you didn’t choose it for your Welshie middle name’
No that comes from another family line in Gower which has a beach
‘And easier to confirm?’
No, it’s not a Jones though it may as well be in the 19th century.
‘Griffiths then’
Well, it could have been Davies but yes, it is Griffiths
To be fair they are easier than great-granny Sarah, she just comes to a grinding halt no matter how many times I trawl the Irish archives
‘Why?’
It is probable, but can’t be confirmed she was born out of wedlock and put into a home as would have been the thing back then, and raised by nuns
‘Without records?’
Certainly without records of her natal parentage, that was all too common
‘How do you know she existed?’
I have photos of her with dad, and a copy of her death certificate. And she is named Sarah on Nan’s and her siblings’ birth certificates
‘How weird’
Families are weird, ancestral families even more so
‘No wonder you enjoy it’
Haha! It gets interesting sometimes. See you tomorrow, Nige
©JezzieG2024
Inspired by and written for the Ovi Poetry Challenge – thank you Ronovan
Form: Ovi
Pessimism poisons hope
Eroding the ways to cope
As the heart continues to mope
The pointlessness of life
Dreams admitting defeat
Desire taking the back seat
Self-esteem is just deadbeat
Eyes closed to possibility
Cynical thinking the gloom
Yet here alone in my room
I see light in the doom
The only way is up
©JezzieG2024
Inspired by and written for Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge – thank you Gerry and Sue
Form: Cascade
An enigma found in strange places
Then an energy induces the ink to flow
The joyous gift of the dark muse
That personal chi brings life
Imagination wanders in its own direction
Through the crowded areas of everyday thinking
Or away into isolated moments
An enigma found in strange places
The fountain pen starts in blots and squirts
And the writer has no clue what to say
‘I don’t know’ I don’t know what to write’
Then an energy induces the ink to flow
Stories of mystery or a murder on the way
Perhaps a moment of sensual delight
That lady of creative dreams will bring
The joyous gift of the dark muse
Paragraphs appear on the paper
Or verses in poetic stanzas rhyme or no rhyme
The rhythm of words like the beat of the pulse
That personal chi brings life
©JezzieG2024
Inspired by and written for the Ragtag Daily Prompt, my thanks to Punam
Form: Haiku
Palm to palm in light
Divine welcoming divine
In love Namaste!
©JezzieG2024
Fairfield Porter #1
1954
Abstract Expressionism
Oil on canvas
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, USA
In this portrait, the artist and critic Fairfield Porter is depicted sitting on a bistro chair facing the viewer. De Kooning has noticeably not painted his face in detail although the viewer can see the general shape, hair, and eyebrows. However, the likeness is found less in the subject’s facial features and more in the way he wears his suit, sits in the chair, and the gestures of his hands.
Elaine De Kooning
Abstract Expressionism
Born: 12 March 1918, New York, USA
Nationality: American
Died: 1 February 1989, New York, USA
De Kooning was a painter of the Abstract Expressionism and Figurative Expressionism movements during the post-WW2 era. She also wrote extensively on the art of the time and an editorial associate for Art News Magazine
I Love Being a Turtle
2007
Film and TV
Klaus Badelt
Dance/Electronic, Film and TV
Born: 12 June 1967, Frankfurt, Germany
Nationality: German
Badelt is a composer, producer, and arranger of film scores best known for his collaborative work with Hans Zimmer. He has worked on scores for blockbuster films including ‘Gladiator,’ ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,’ and ‘The Widowmaker.’ Badelt has also worked on French and Chinese movies and films by Werner Herzog
Death XXVII
1923
Then Almitra spoke, saying, “We would ask now of Death.”
And he said:
You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.
In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour.
Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king?
Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?
For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance
Khalil Gibran
Born: 6 January 1883, Bsharri, Lebanon
Nationality: Lebanese-American
Died: 10 April 1931, New York, USA
Gibran was a writer, poet, and visual artist. He was also considered to be a philosopher although he rejected the title. Best known as the author of ‘The Prophet,’ first published in 1923 and went on to become one of the all-time best-selling books. ‘The Prophet’ has been translated into over 100 languages, Gibran was born in a village of the Ottoman-ruled Mount Lebanon Mutsarrifate and emigrated to the United States with his mother and siblings in 1895. At fifteen he was sent back to Lebanon to enroll at the Collège de la Sagesse in Beirut. He returned to Bost when his youngest sister died in 1902. His mother and older half-brother died the following year
Bardic Slave
Form: Channing Sonnet 2
I cannot fail whilst I’m blessed from above
And my tasks and my missions have been set
Set within my heart to never forget
To care and protect thee with all my love
Through this, a living world of push and shove
A task that few could ever dare to do
But I know that this love is pure and true
The promise made is mine to keep thereof
A promise that made me thy willing slave
In consecrated vow of man and wife
I will love and protect thee for my life
And prove in many ways I am no knave
As I write these sonnets, I am thy bard
And in thy bidding, I am no sluggard
©JezzieG2024
Say Say Say
Album: Pipes of Peace
Date: 1983
Genre: Rock
Artist: Paul McCartney with Michael Jackson
Paul McCartney is a singer, songwriter, and musician who gained international fame with the Beatles as their bass guitarist and shared primary songwriter and lead vocals with John Lennon. McCartney is one of the most successful composers and performers of all time. He is known for his melodic approach to bass playing, versatile and wide tenor vocal range, musical eclecticism, and exploring musical styles from pre-rock ‘n’ roll to classical and electronica. The Lennon and McCartney songwriting partnership remains the most successful in history.
Michael Jackson (1958-2009) was a singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. He was known as the ‘King of Pop’ and is regarded as one of the most influentially significant cultural figures of the 20th century. During a career lasting four decades, his music, dance, and fashion contributions made him a global figure in popular culture
Day 94
Prompt: How far would you carry the one you love
Hi Nigel
‘Hiya! I am guessing that isn’t a literal question’
I shouldn’t think so
‘Ok, shall we assume carry means support’
That would be a better way to look at it
‘I would have limits, but pretty much as far as they need me to’
Are those limits to your own moral code?
‘Yes, exactly’
Assuming the loved one loves you as much as you love them surely, they would respect your moral code
‘But what if they don’t’
I would say in that case they don’t love you, at least not as equally as you love them
‘And then it is going to get complicated’
In most cases, it does, yes
‘In a lot of cases, it makes the love seem empty promises’
It is one of those circumstances that can be very revealing
‘I’d say so’
There will be those by putting limits, even though it is your moral code, it is you who doesn’t love enough’
‘But with regards to personal morals it cannot be limitless, can it?’
No
‘You don’t love me because you won’t do something you find offensive – what sort of deal is that?’
Nige, anyone who loves you won’t ask that of you, it is that simple?
‘But what if they do?’
Then, be honest with yourself, they don’t love you and you have to decide if knowing that you want to continue
‘And that is a shitty place to be’
It’s not a nice place to stay for sure
‘Love is so bloody complicated’
It involves two or more humans, it will never be simple
‘Ain’t that the truth. More than two? You don’t say polyamory is legit?’
If it is all consensual, I see no reason why not
‘True, that’s a good point’
It’s not for us to judge people’s choices
‘Indeed it is not. Apart from anything else that makes it okay for them to judge us’
Exactly. See you tomorrow, Nige
©JezzieG2024
Inspired by and written for Simply 6 Minutes – thank you, Christine
Form: Hyper Sonnet
Echoes of conversations in the wall
The past speaks in the silence of the future
Can the children still be heard playing in the hall
Hushed when the rent man comes to call
Dues paid but he’ll be back next week
And mother wraps herself in an old shawl
While dad watches football on the TV
And mother writes the shopping list in a scrawl
For she knows there’s no money to pay for it all
And I wonder is the future any different
A mother shopping for bargains in the rainfall
Scraping it together at a market stall
Back home her kids play out in the hall
And her words will sink in time in the wall
Time: 8 minutes
Word count: 118
©JezzieG2024
Cast-off Laughs
Form: Channing Sonnet 1
At first, I thought I saw love in your eyes
The promise of truth without deception
A universe in its repetition
The truth of love beyond the mask of lies
But with every look the more my pain cries
Still, I believed in our love’s inception
Denied what I saw in recognition
The promise of love was a cruel disguise
The more pain I felt the more you would smile
Agonies writhing in your cast-off laughs
My protests you so easily shrugged off
Until my heart could not stay in denial
And Fate decreed us our separate paths
Now it is I that gives you the brush-off
©JezzieG2024
Red Barchetta
Album: Moving Pictures
Date: 1981
Genre: Progressive Rock
Artist: Rush
Rush was a rock band formed in Toronto, Canada in 1968, primarily consisting of Geddy Lee (bass and vocals), Alex Lifeson (guitar), and Neil Peart (drums, percussion, and lyricist). The band went through several lineup configurations before achieving its classic power lineup. Rush achieved commercial success in the 1970s with “Fly by Night” (1975), “2112” (1976), and “A Farewell to Kings” (1977). Their popularity continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s with albums charting highly in Canada, the US, and the UK. Rush were best known for their musicianship, eclectic lyrical motifs, and complex compositions heavily influenced by science fiction, fantasy, and philosophy
Etre Cible Nous Monde
1958
Surrealism
Oil on canvas
Private Collection
‘Etre Cible Nous Monde’ (Our Earth is a Target) exemplifies Matta’s work of the mid-1950s with a cosmic landscape dominated by a machine. The imagery and title suggest the paranoia and fear of the atomic age
Roberto Matta
Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Modern Art
Born: 11 November 1911, Santiago, Chile
Nationality: Chilean
Died: 23 November 2002, Civitavecchia, Italy
Matta was one of Chile’s best-known artists. He is a seminal figure of the abstract expressionist and surrealist art of the 20th -century
He’s a Pirate
2003
Film and TV
Klaus Badelt
Dance/Electronic, Film and TV
Born: 12 June 1967, Frankfurt, Germany
Nationality: German
Badelt is a composer, producer, and arranger of film scores best known for his collaborative work with Hans Zimmer. He has worked on scores for blockbuster films including ‘Gladiator,’ ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,’ and ‘The Widowmaker.’ Badelt has also worked on French and Chinese movies and films by Werner Herzog
CIA Dope Calypso
1972
In nineteen hundred forty-five
China was won by Mao Tse-tung
Chiang Kai-shek’s army ran away
They were waiting there in Thailand yesterday
Supported by the CIA
Pushing junk down Thailand way
First they stole from the Meo Tribes
Up in the hills they started taking bribes
Then they sent their soldiers up to Shan
Collecting opium to send to The Man
Pushing junk in Bangkok yesterday
Supported by the CIA
Brought their jam on mule trains down
To Chiang Rai that’s a railroad town
Sold it next to the police chief brain
He took it to town on the choochoo train
Trafficking dope to Bangkok all day
Supported by the CIA
The policeman’s name was Mr. Phao
He peddled dope grand scale and how
Chief of border customs paid
By Central Intelligence’s U.S. A.I.D.
The whole operation, Newspapers say
Supported by the CIA
He got so sloppy & peddled so loose
He busted himself & cooked his own goose
Took the reward for an opium load
Seizing his own haul which same he resold
Big time pusher for a decade turned grey
Working for the CIA
Touby Lyfong he worked for the French
A big fat man liked to dine & wench
Prince of the Meos he grew black mud
Till opium flowed through the land like a flood
Communists came and chased the French away
So Touby took a job with the CIA
The whole operation fell in to chaos
Till U.S. Intelligence came into Laos
I’ll tell you no lie I’m a true American
Our big pusher there was Phoumi Nosovan
All them Princes in a power play
But Phoumi was the man for the CIA
And his best friend General Vang Pao
Ran the Meo army like a sacred cow
Helicopter smugglers filled Long Cheng’s bars
In Xieng Quang province on the Plain of Jars
It started in secret they were fighting yesterday
Clandestine secret army of the CIA
All through the Sixties the Dope flew free
Thru Tan Son Nhut Saigon to Marshal Ky
Air America followed through
Transporting confiture for President Thieu
All these Dealers were decades and yesterday
The Indochinese mob of the U.S. CIA
Operation Haylift Offisir Wm. Colby
Saw Marshal Ky fly opium Mr. Mustard told me
Indochina desk he was Chief of Dirty Tricks
“Hitchhiking” with dope pushers was how he got his fix
Subsidizing traffickers to drive the Reds away
Till Colby was the head of the CIA
Allen Ginsberg
Born: 3 June 1926, New Jersey, USA
Nationality: American
Died: 5 April 1997, New York, USA
Ginsberg was a poet, philosopher, and writer. In the 1940s as a student at Columbia College, he began a close friendship with WS Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Generation. He opposed militarism, economic materialism, and sexual repression. He embodied various aspects of this counterculture with his views on drugs, openness to Eastern religions, and hostility to bureaucracy. Ginsberg is best known for the poem ‘Howl’ which denounces the destructive forces of capitalism and conformity within the United States at the time
Jezzie G 