Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Send me on my way


If the Irish soda bread comes with caraway, buy two, one without
For you, and one with seeds, for me; once fortified, send me on my way

Juggling the email thread, should we gather or not, too many choices
That day, but others had options, that made the case to send me on my way

Trying to read while the rain pelted the house, relishing the sound 
of the heat rising thru the baseboards, the story sends me on my way

His voice is changing, not seeming to fully enunciate his words
But his blues beat is steady, ready to send me on my way

Good fitness is work, learning techniques for lifting, doing this
Or that exercise, getting me stronger to send me on my way

A subscriber wants less of the national issues, and it is not clear
Which of the issues caused the message to send me on my way

  II

March 14, or pi day, gets me to the kitchen for my annual baking 
exercise; 2 French meat pies & 2 pumpkin pies, sends me on my way

We had Shepherd Pie earlier in the week but for me, without a crust
that doesn't really count as pie, it's goodness did send me on my way

Audio, video, digital text, the information streams surround us, can
Overwhelm us, what do we pay attention to, to send me on my way

Coming to the intersection, watching the lights change, each direction has a
Turn, some use a different path to cross, then the light sends me on my way

A secret to life is keeping moving, with youth like energy, exploring
With eyes wide opening, rising each day with joy sends me on my way

Travel time is coming, an opportunity to see another area of our world
Other ways of living, anxious for the day to send me on my way 

So Sherlock what will happen with those left behind, will they realize 
there is a gap to be filled when the day comes to send me on my way

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Starting over

 I

Awakened by his performing a great cover of “Starting over
I've heard the song before, but not in this way, I'm starting over

Settling in, back from our trip to the “pearl of Africa”, with only 
One house to reside in/worry about now that we're starting over

Twenty-eight year residence in the past, paperwork filings
Confirmed the closing, discharges, and details of starting over

Finished reading “The Ocean at the End of the Lane
And realized it is all about memories, water, and starting over

As we search for good things in our past to share, 
Isn't that what we end up doing? Starting over

Recollection of a specific instance, you "fill in the blank",
It changes us, recognized or not, and we're starting over


  II

Water is critical to life, we can't go many days without it
Thirst quenched, rehydrated, our body is starting over

Water can flow in a stream, river, and progressively
Larger bodies of water, each time it seems to be starting over

Can you stop the stream? Try, and you'll get left behind. 
Catch up, and you are really in a new place, starting over

Your body sweats expending effort in the catching up
Sweat may drench your clothes, weighing down starting over

Cold water, kept in a jug in the fridge is refreshing 
Hot or cold, water is life, enabling starting over

Don't live in the past, there is a happy place to be
When the sun rises tomorrow, and your life is starting over

Sherlock: remember the jar of Maraschino cherries next to the water jug
They remind us to celebrate the small moments starting over


Referential inspirations:

Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Time for the music

  I


What is the one thing we usually never have enough of

And which we can't buy? Haven’t Got Time for the Pain 


Do you manage it, or do you let it control you? I have tried 

To be as efficient as I can. times they are a changing 


A little planning can go a long way to helping avoid 

Wasting energy, money, or time; time is on my side


I like to reward those who manage time well. My time is 

Important, and when others recognize that, let the good times roll


Think about it, lots of action words are associated with this

Concept: Make, take, buy, spend, waste; baby, one more time


It seems like time is a thing to be handled, bought, boxed

Stored, when it just keep ticking on its own, Time in a Bottle



  II


It can be a real question, or a good ice breaker, to ask

someone, Does Anybody Really Know What Time it is?


I would propose that only when you are up and about

Does it exist, Time has come today


Memories, whether the penultimate, or even the last time

Are instances when we recognize Times like these


What is it that gives us pause, stops us to realize, and

recognize the present as a gift? Only Time Will Tell


Without that pause, a sense of something else, we go 

About living, doing, being, Time after time


If it is worthy, and created the pause, then the best thing 

to do is likely to Love me Two Times


Sherlock says: give a gift to yourself, think, plan, and then

tackle the day, the next minute, so that it feels like the first time



Source of 100 song titles with "Time"

https://spinditty.com/playlists/songs-with-time-in-the-title 


Monday, August 15, 2022

Diamonds in 42 lines

If she get to know you

Then they really have you

Ah, to be so exciting

It's good to need you so


Comin' up from the park

Don't it seem so far away

The smells of cookin' in the hallways

And he'd hide in a house

But it can't sing and dance


Girl, if it lasts for an hour, that's all right


And the sun gonna rise in the sky

Not a trace of doubt in my mind

And I am lost and I can't


Don't have to say it


If you want me to


Blind as a child

Why, you've become a grown-up girl

Humbled and awed by everything I'd found


Stay close to me

You are the words, I am the tune


Lord of my need, need, need

The boat that I row won't get me there soon

It used to be so natural


Good times never seemed so good

Wish I loved only one

But until I can find me


To forget the day

The blues now and then

Walk with me this day


I'll stay with you my love

Two together, forty years down

And more to go




Note: There is a writing challenge I gave myself to compose this. 42 is the answer to all things per Douglas Adams and his The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books.  Our wedding anniversary was on the horizon. Dolores has frequently talked of two key events the year we got married, one was our wedding day, the other was her going to the Neil Diamond concert and sitting in the 6th row. No, she doesn't say which is more important. That's okay. I have had more time with her. 


Coincidentally, the Neil Diamond musical "A Beautiful Noise" (https://abeautifulnoisethemusical.com/was playing in Boston this year (July 2022) so we went and enjoyed it.  The playbill listed the 29 songs in alphabetic order (rather than in the order of the musical appearance). 29 is a good number for those who play cribbage. I took time to research the lyrics of the 29 songs. Found the fourth verse, took the second line (see 42 is the answer) and used this listing to craft the poem above. 


The last three lines are added to help make this about our anniversary.


For Dolores, my love

Saturday, January 15, 2022

sherku: syllable quintet

Vocal beats
Compose the phrase
Build to the
Sentence and
More to the
Full story



Paint spots not

Pointillist

Impressionist 

Threads woven

Tapestry

For all time



Translating

Images

And wonder

An attempt

To bring you

Along the ride



Breathe rhythm 

Of heart beats

I just wanted

You to know

That this is

Me trying



You show me

Many colors 

In the tapestry

I can't see 

with anyone else




Inspired by conversation at the writer's group about syllables and sherku; at the same time informed by video of Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift albums on Disney. A fun way to spend a cold day!


Wednesday, December 02, 2020

sherku: why

certain songs 
instantly
fill my eyes
with tears and
my voice trembles 
to find words



Monday, July 08, 2019

sherku: carnival

Reggae brass
Blends screams and
Shouts around
Warm green lawn
Conjuring
Pharaoh's fury


#140poets


https://twitter.com/shersteve/status/1147932185502146561

Monday, February 09, 2015

sherku: listening


Do you hear the snow
It is slowly
Building walls
Waves piles
To keep us in




inspired by George Ezra's "Did you hear the rain?"


Tuesday, January 27, 2015

sherku: George Ezra


Juno snowed 
on Franklin 
found Gandalf 
singing so I 
just listened 
to the man





#juno

composed while cruising in Facebook and discovering on a snowy day
got hypnotized by the voice of George Ezra

Friday, April 11, 2014

sherku: acting their age


jacket or not
their motions
translating
Duke to now
each breath
making music





composed while attending a jazz performance by the Franklin High School jazz band


Thursday, April 10, 2014

sherku: FHS jazz


lecture hall
setting for
jive combo
telling their
own high school
experience



composed while attending a performance of the Franklin High School jazz combo


Tuesday, March 13, 2012

sherku: drift away


Give me the beat boys
And free my soul
I want to get lost
In your rock and roll



A 'found' poem. I have loved this Doobie Brothers chorus since I first heard it and finally realized it was a sherku! Well part of it was. 


What is a sherku?    





Friday, February 03, 2012

sherku: music



But I always think
that music is
what language
would love to be
if it could



This is a "found" sherku in that the words were found in the transcript of the recent OnBeing podcast by Krista Tippett and John O'Donohue

The full transcript and podcast can be found here


Wednesday, December 07, 2011

sherku: prayer



Glory of God is
A person who’s
Fully alive
Or like a
Song sung well

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

sherku: back to Bach



Notes stepping
This way and that
Round and back
Toccata and fugue
Bach D minor


What is a sherku?

Monday, December 05, 2011

sherku: proof



Bach crescendo
Eyes well, ground swells
I need to be still
Music reigns supreme



What is a sherku?



Tuesday, June 07, 2011

sherku: harmonica lips


That is what he
told me after
the first kiss;
he has got
harmonica lips


a found sherku, in that I read what Robert Fulghum wrote and it fit.

What is a sherku?


Tuesday, March 01, 2011

sherku: Shannon 2


Her passion powers
Lithe movements
Clear vocals on
unrequited
Irish love


What is a sherku?


Inspired by the performance of Shannon Lambert-Ryan and RUNA at the Circle of Friends Coffeehouse, Franklin, MA

Monday, February 28, 2011

sherku: Shannon


Wee lass sings
Long hair swaying
Colored shadows
Play the scrim
With her dulcet tones


What is a sherku?


Inspired by the performance of Shannon Lambert-Ryan and RUNA at the Circle of Friends Coffeehouse, Franklin, MA

Sunday, February 27, 2011

sherku: Circle of Friends


Skeleton trees
Standing guard
Herding music
Amongst the
Circle of friends


What is a sherku?




Inspired by the performance of RUNA at the Circle of Friends Coffeehouse, Franklin, MA