River and the Road – Archie Fisher

from – River and the Road
Lyrics and music by Archie Fisher (From his CD “Windward Away”)

River, ramble as you will. This road’s a cruel, hard master
And I can’t slow the water’s flow, or travel any faster.

I know there’s a crossroads on this route I’m bound to travel
Straight ahead’s a long, smooth way, the other’s dirt and gravel.
And the hardest thing you’ll ever learn to bear as you grow older
Is to watch a dear friend walk away without a turn of shoulder.
I can be as hurt as you although I seldom show it
I’m so easy-going, that I’m gone before you know it.

Posted in Poetry and Lyrics, what I'm listening to | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Day 25, NaPoWriMo

The prompt at NaPoWriMo.net was to pick a line from another poem and use that as a starter. Took a little rummaging to get outside something I would work too directly. So, how about a little Dr. Suess?

…never mix up your right foot with your left
all the simple things we have given names:
the birds, the dogs, the cats and the children
these are more generic, it’s true enough
but then if you can’t recall if that is
a red-winged blackbird or eastern towhee
you can say with great enthusiasm:
Look! It’s a bird! Up there! Look, right there!
Everyone will sight along your finger
and someone will say, ‘oh, that’s a grosbeak,
rose-breasted not pine. they’re early this year.’
And everyone else will nod and take note
thinking, I’d no idea what that was but
it’s not a dog, a cat or my left foot.

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Day 24, NaPoWriMo

I’ve been wondering how to approach older forms of poetry where the lines are broken and yet connected, both to express the thought and ease oral telling. In my end-of-April-mind I offer you a bit of fractured poetic form, can you figure it out? Because the formatting would be impossible to assure over various methods of viewing I mushed the words into a PDF and hence to a JPG. You’re welcome.

I will put another view of this in the comments.

Posted in haiku, NaPoWriMo, Poetry and Lyrics, Ripped from the headlines, sonnet, the creative process | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

All you need to know…

This, friends, is really all you need to know about anything and everything. You’re welcome.

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Day 23, NaPoWriMo

The Poet and the Sonnet,

as suggested by today’s NaPoWriMo.net prompt, although I’ve been working mostly with sonnets all month! Did you notice?

Days of writing down words – who shall read them?
Lay them out, line after line, save the file.
Post them to the web, share them on facebook,
include the link. Add a photo, why not?
Join a group, admire the work of others.
Go to a poetry slam and listen
wondering if your words aren’t loud enough.
People nod opaquely while you share yours.
Read your heroes: Dickinson, Frost, Collins
and despair of the subtle humor there
the worldly wisdom flying from words
the way words lay inky on the pages.
Write down one hundred forty syllables
Put everything there, all of you, then, more.

Posted in badass-ness, Do the Work, NaPoWriMo, Poetry and Lyrics, sonnet, the creative process | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment