Tag Archives: Not Poetry

What I was thinking…better metaphors

I thought it would be ~~fun~~ ~~useful~~ cathartic to summarize a collection of thoughts/experiences that occupied my brain the last couple of days.

What I’m thinking –
My wife and I listen to entertainment/talk show radio on our commute to and from work. We get a dose of top 40 music and sophomoric humor in the morning, and sports talk radio in the evening. I was actually paying attention to music one morning, when I heard Katy Perry’s Dark Horse featuring rapper Juicy J…specifically this lyrical gem in the rap section:

She’s a beast
I call her Karma (come back)
She eats your heart out
Like Jeffrey Dahmer (woo)

Really?

Now….I am, admittedly, not a big fan of rap, though I understand the phenomenon and the urban appeal. It is a form of poetry(rhyming, meter, metaphors, alliteration, etc). I admire certain artists’ ability in rap…both in writing and performing (eminem comes immediately to mind).

But, not only is this example in poor taste…it is just lazy writing. To trivialize a serial murderer in a song lyric about addictive love/lust…surely someone could have come up with something better than that. I’m not a lyricist, and I don’t make a living as a recording artist, but I hope that we as a society don’t reach the callous point of integrating our worst examples of humanity into pop culture throwaway lines…like that.

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What I’m reading –

I think I’ve mentioned that I’m a slow book finisher, and I tend to have several books going at once (probably around 5 right now, at last count). Most recently, I just started Robert Edsel’s The Monuments Men , in anticipation of the movie that going to be released soon. That one has me intrigued, particularly because the book is very factual and dry at this point, like a history lesson. It certainly has the makings of a great war time adventure story, and I will finish it. Incidentally, the last two books I finished were Graham Moore’s The Sherlockian and Dan Brown’s Inferno, both of which I finished within a couple of weeks of each other last summer/fall, which is some kind of record for me.
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Things that I’m writing

I’m writing alot these days for work: technical reports of various thus and so. I enjoy putting together different ways to discuss trends in data, make predictions, and discuss what observations/results mean or extrapolate to other conditions. It is not surprising then, that for poetry, my inspiration comes mostly from observation. My most recent poem vignette is the result of me staring at a picture on my wall (of twirled poppies) that is located next to a window (where, conveniently this time of year, I can see winter/snow). The symbolism in this poem is not lost on me, as poppies symbolize sleep, peace, or death; these are beautiful and yet, being stuck in a frame, they appear to twist and strain to see the bitter cold and and peace of snowfall.

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Things that I wonder about

I like statistics and trend relationships. The stats functions here on WordPress tell me something about my readership.
1. Someone in India really likes my poem, Respite, I get a hit from India every couple of days. Whoever you are, thank you for visiting…let me know what you like about the poem.
2. I don’t get many visitors for non-poetry posts. But, I will continue to write things as I feel inspired to.
3. NanoWriMo 2013 really boosted my readership, coinciding with Freshly Pressed, but I don’t think many of them returned after last April/May.
4. I get the highest hit rate when I write romantic or stylistic Romantic poetry. My take is that people like poetry that makes them feel good. But, still, I get very few actual comments (I’ll harp on that some more).

Thanks for visiting. And if you happen to write song lyrics, insist on better metaphors.

Acappella Friday: Winding up Winter

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A cappella music (without instrumental accompaniment) is particularly enjoyable for me to listen to. As a poet (and an avocational musician), I am drawn to the similarities that poems and a cappella music have. Lyrical phrasing, meter, rhyming, and onomatopoeia mean so much to a cappella music, because it relies so heavily on the human vocal element.

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So…winter is in full force, all wound up, blustery, snowy, icy, and *cold*.

A blogging friend posted Shakespeare’s “Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind” in her regular Wednesday poetry feature and it jogged a memory. A memory of a song that I couldn’t get out of my head once I read the poem.

Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind
(William Shakespeare)

Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man’s ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen,
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho, the holly!
This life is most jolly.

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
That dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remembered not.
Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho, the holly!
This life is most jolly.

I’ve always interpreted this as Shakespeare writing about the nasty part of human relationships being worse than the bitterness of winter. Juxtaposed bleakness with heigh-ho and the holly seems a little tongue in cheek, or is it just him saying “I get it, I can’t depend on most people, but I’ll be jolly anyway.”

Anyway, the song…Again, this is not acapella, and I may have to rename this feature…but the inspiration of poetry to write music is undeniable.

John Quilter (1877-1953) was a composer of songs and light orchestral music in England. One of his songs was a setting of Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind, as part of his Three Shakespeare Songs, Op.6. I recall this song from my college days, either during my short experience in voice lessons or perhaps one of my voice major friends doing this on a recital. But the melody immediately came to mind when I read the poem.

Being in a minor key, the inital verse is conveyed brilliantly by the swirling phrasing, and the heigh-ho section is very different…much more hey nonny nonny no (like a madrigal).

The recording I found was of famed English tenor Gervase Elwes (who incidentally, was actor Cary Elwes great-grandfather) performing the song in 1916. Quilter and Elwes collaborated on a number of songs prior to Elwes tragic death in 1921. This is a great performance. And I love the olde English pronunciation of “wind” – Wynd.

I discovered a second setting of this poem, a choral version written by John Rutter. The choral composition is much more haunting and consistent than the art song version. There are no sudden shifts in style (as with the Quilter version), and the accompaniment adds to the bleak winter ambience. It is very beautiful, mysterious and very Rutteresque, if you are familiar with his choral pieces, I think you’ll understand.

I think perhaps the poem may lose some of its intention in this composition by not contrasting more between the heigh-ho/holly and the winter wind, but it is beautifully written.

Happy 2014 and some other thoughts

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As the years roll on, I get to the point where I never imagined their continuation. Like the year 2000. It seemed so daunting in my childhood, to imagine 3 zeros behind a 2. It seemed so far away in 1972, 1976, or 1982. And here we are in 2014, newly minted. I never even thought about this number. What about you? What years were key in your mind as “out there?”

A couple of years ago I posted some goals. Last year I didn’t. This year, I am newly inspired to achieve. And, since this blog mainly contains my writing life, these goals have more to do with writing than other aspects of my life.

1. Attend/participate in a writing workshop.

I’ve always wanted to do this, and have never found the time. Further, it is intimidating to share writing at this level…particularly poetry…which is most of what I do. Perhaps I need to branch out into other forms such as flash fiction, short stories, or something…

2. Restart my poetry submissions for journals – goal of being accepted to a “well-read” print journal.

I stopped submitting poems over a year ago, because, honestly, I don’t enjoy the rejection. But, I’ve found that I still have the itch to “make it” as a writer/poet…though I haven’t quite figured out how one makes a living doing that. (The key…I know… is to not obsess over how to make a living writing poetry, but to LIVE writing poetry. I sometimes forget that, but the fact that I am still trying to write after about 7 years of creating this blog tells me something about myself…and hopefully it doesn’t mean that I’m crazy).

3. Learn how to market myself.

Being an introvert makes this difficult, but I know that any successes in life come with hard work, lucky breaks, and knowing the right people at the right time. I’ve never been good at tooting my own horn, but typically rely on my work to speak for itself. I recognize that people don’t always work that way(though I think that they should).

In the past month, I’ve had some interesting discussions with my new-college-graduate son about following your passion in your career choices. At his young age, he seems to grasp how important that is. I’ve known it, but haven’t always remembered it. He inspires me with his self-awareness.

There are some interesting events planned for 2014, and hopefully these goals will find their way into my plans. And if you have any insight on how any of these goals could be accomplished…help me out…give me some suggestions, actually post a comment. I’d appreciate it.

And to you and yours, I wish you a wonderful 2014.

Adventures in Productivity

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Early Sunday morning, I awoke with the idea that I wanted to make a loaf of sourdough bread. I received a breadmaker from my son as a Christmas gift. I have enjoyed making bread “the old fashioned way” for many years, and entertained the idea of a breadmaker because, well, I like bread, and sometimes there is not enough time to mix ingredients, let it rise, divide the dough, let it rise again, and cook it. I will do it that way for holiday bread, but it is time consuming.

Scrounging around the kitchen at 7 AM, I realized that I did not have enough all-purpose flour to complete the recipe. What I did have was whole wheat flour. I have never heard of whole wheat sourdough bread…so I went to my computer to google search.

My internet connect was dead.

We have a funky wireless connection at our house. It drops out my wife’s laptop most of the time, but rarely does my computer lose the signal. I rebooted the modem…nothing. I rebooted my computer….still nothing.

The definition of insanity is, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

I rebooted everything again…just in case. No luck.

Then I took an ethernet cable and hooked my computer directly to the modem…good,

then to my wireless router…bad.

I am fortunate to have purchased a spare router^, so I powered everything down, replaced the router, plugged everything in, powered it up and …..BAM….

working internet.

Amazing.

A little searching for bread recipes and I found the following:

A hearty whole wheat yeast bread with the tangy flavor of sourdough. This recipe was written for use with bread machines.

Sourdough Whole Wheat BreadFor 1 1/2 Pound Loaf:
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup sourdough starter (room temperature)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
3 cups whole wheat bread flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

I loaded the ingredients in the breadmaker, plugged it in and pressed start.

Three and a half hours later, we enjoyed a warm loaf of whole wheat sourdough bread with lunch. It did not have an extra heel, but we were joyful nonetheless.

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Why does this matter?

I have been reading Steven Johnson’s book, Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation. It is one of the five or six books (paper and electronic) that I have cracked open at the moment^^. He discusses the coral reef as a model for technology development – filling the needs required by those in the environment so they don’t have to reinvent something from scratch to fill their need.

Adaptation to the situation via the adjacent possible.

To make a loaf a bread required not only the ingredients (whether I could use whole wheat flour or not), the knowledge of how to mix them and cook the loaf, the technology of a bread machine, how to troubleshoot an internet connection, performing a search of information out in cyberspace…you see where this is going right?

Steven Johnson’s point is that we don’t have to know how all of these things work, but simply how to use them. That opens up the adjacent possible…If I use it there, maybe I can use it here.

That is how new ideas are born.

Trying the bread with a little margarine and apple butter is my next big idea.

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^We purchased a certain provider’s bundled internet and phone package a few years ago, only to find out recently, when our phone connection went out, they no longer support the equipment…so we have to do that on our own. I found what we needed and we purchased a few of them.

^^Yes, I can’t seem to finish a book without starting another. I won’t apologize for that any longer.