At 6 AM, before I went to bed, music and my memories floated in my mind
My headphones rendered Joe Zawinul’s “A Remark You Made” in amazing
Ecstasy—the live, orchestral version was all clashing, brassy harmonies, sax
And Jaco’s bass didn’t exactly play a soundtrack to memories in my mind’s
Slow wandering and resting—modulating between Joe’s so right harmonies,
And an afternoon at Almont Church Camp transport of tonal modes, moving
Me to holy moods lively, living memories, placing me playing Moses, as if
He had just descended from Mount Sinai and I held aloft two ceramic Tablets
Fabricated by Eric, fired in his own kiln with real Hebrew writing on them
And he wouldn’t let me smash them like the real Moses did and in a loud voice
I proclaimed the Commandments one by one as best I could remember them
On the sandy shore straggled with grass next the pond at Almont Church Camp
Man! Those harmonies hit it! Just guiding the tonal flow into the changes
Of Jaco’s heart-rending solo with the brass and sax of “A Remark You Made”
Ending a good night, musing, music, memories, me as Moses with the Tablets
Eric made and five or so children stood in a half-circle staring at who was it
Behind the white cotton beard, robe, standing there holding up two Tablets
Out of words and one of the five or so children guessed me to be that guy
Who sits on the porch afternoons listening to his Walkman, smoking cigars
Usually joined by a teen who didn’t quite fit in and later aspired to be a poet
And I dragged my attention away from the memory, sad that I’d abandoned
The stunning harmonies in “A Remark You Made” the sax, brass, Jaco’s bass
Fading in memories, back, half aware of the pleasant 6 AM before I fell asleep
MOSES, JOE ZAWINUL, ME AND MY MEMORIES
23 Feb 2021 Leave a comment
in Blog Tags: children, church camp, Commandments, memories, Moses, music, poem, poetry, Tablets, words, Zawinul
ABOUT
06 Oct 2020 Leave a comment
in Blog Tags: criticism, deconstruction, meaning, poem, poetics, poetry, words, writing
And what about content?—As when we talk
To each other and don’t deconstruct our meaning
We talk about things to each other
And don’t use artistic language
About
Time was words were about. I’m not so sure
Poetry is invested in about
About anything
I certainly have other interests
Than only words in themselves
As when I talk to others and don’t use
Artistic words
I try to use the best words to
Express meaning
And when I do it well, there is no explaining
Come to think, I guess I’m done
Writing words about words anymore
I certainly have other interests
Like writing
About
Some Cranky Aphorisms
18 Jun 2020 Leave a comment
in Blog Tags: art, deconstruction, words, writing
If you have something to say, why not say it clearly?
If you have nothing to say, why are you writing?
A sequence of words, no matter how arranged, doesn’t always justify itself.
Art isn’t the deconstruction of meaning.
Perhaps deconstruction should be applied to itself.
ETUDE
03 Sep 2019 Leave a comment
in Blog Tags: art, language, meaning, poem, poetics, poetry, reality, script, word play, words
I paint with words the colors of my moods
In language, I play the notes of my soul
With nouns and verbs, I construct structures of meaning
The script that is scene and act of my life’s issues
And if I am true, my words are yours
Poetry that is about language only
Means nothing to the ages
Word play, alliteration, assonance, rhyme and rhythm
Are scholastic toys unless vehicles of meaning
When dancing language denotes reality
Poetry is loved and lasting
LANGUAGE AND TRUTH
12 Jun 2019 Leave a comment
in Blog Tags: language, poem, poetry, truth, words, writing
Your first written impulse isn’t always
The truth
And so revisions
Paring away distracting words
Imprecise words
Replacing the vague with
Clarity
Sculpting truth
Epistemology and What Words Are
11 Sep 2018 Leave a comment
in Blog Tags: epistemology, experience, language, lies, Locke, poetry, soul, truth, words
Words are created by people;
They help us function.
Words have meaning only when
Our experience meshes with the origin
Of any given word.
Then there is the consideration
Of experience.
To Locke, experience is
Inner and outer.
The motions of our soul are inner.
The world we all share is outer.
Words created to mediate what is inner
Confront what is outer.
When they coincide,
We call it truth.
A preponderance of words from what is inner
That don’t coincide with words from what is outer
Is what we call a lie.
Linguistic processes affirm the art of epistemology.
And there is what we call truth.
For those who care.