Poetry Corner

[jazzbo]

Saturday you watched the children play

My arm around your waist

I thought of what might have been

While loving what is now.

Somehow I had a winning hand

Won this pot and swept it to me

Fortune has never been this kind

And I am thankful every day.

[jazzbo]

I love these lyrics penned by Jobim for "Wave"

So close your eyes
For that's a lovely way to be
Aware of things your heart alone was meant to see
The fundamental loneliness goes
Whenever two can dream a dream together

You can't deny
Don 't try to fight the rising sea
Don't fight the moon, the stars above and don't fight me
The fundamental loneliness goes
Whenever two can dream a dream together

When I saw you first the time was half past three
When your eyes met mine it was eternity

By now we know
The wave is on its way to be
Just catch the wave don't be afraid of loving me
The fundamental loneliness goes
Whenever two can dream a dream together

[jazzbo]

English Lyrics to "Once I Loved" (O Amor Em Paz, music by Jobim, Portuguese lyrics by Vinicius De Moraes)

Once, I loved
And I gave so much love to this love you were the world to me
Once I cried at the thought I was foolish and proud and let you say goodbye
Then one day from my infinite sadness you came and brought me love again
Now I know that no matter whatever befalls I'll never let you go
I will hold you close
Make you stay
Because love is the saddest thing when it goes away
Love is the saddest thing when it goes away

[jazzbo]

This Happy Madness

Antonio Carlos Jobim/Gene Lees

What should I call this happy madness that I feel inside of me

Some kind of wild October gladness that I never thought I'd see
What has become of all my sadness all my endless lonely sighs
Where are my sorrows now

What happened to the frown and is that self contented clown
Standing grinning in the mirror really me
I'd like to run through Central Park carve your initials in the bark
of every tree I pass for every one to see

I feel that I've gone back to childhood and I'm skipping through the wild wood
So excited that I don't know what to do
What do I care if I'm a juvenile I smile my secret little smile
Because I know the change in me is you

What should I call this happy madness all this unexpected joy
That turned the world into a baby's bouncing toy
The god's are laughing far above One of them gave a little shove
And I fell gaily gladly madly into love

[jeffcrom]

Blues haiku. The first two lines are taken almost verbatim from "I Never Miss the Sunshine," recorded by blues singer Clara Smith in 1923.

I never miss the sunshine;
I'm so used to rain.
Light and joy seem far away.

[paul secor]

Not a formal haiku, but three phrases and seventeen syllables - and well known:

The night was clear
And the moon was yellow
And the leaves came Tumbling down.

 

[danasgoodstuff]

On 10/10/2017 at 5:29 PM, paul secor said:

Not a formal haiku, but three phrases and seventeen syllables - and well known:

The night was clear
And the moon was yellow
And the leaves came Tumbling down.

 

very nice, I presume you know this one:

Pennies in a stream
Falling leaves of a sycamore
Moonlight in Vermont

take "of" out and I think it's a proper haiku...

[paul secor]

I'm not sure what the original lyrics are, but I believe I've heard versions that do leave "of" out, which would make it a proper haiku.

Edited October 11, 2017 by paul secor

[jeffcrom]

Blues haiku #6:

For Robert Johnson

I drank the poison
You poured in my whiskey glass;
Now I'll never die.

 

 Blues haiku #4:

Sonny Boy's tombstone:
Outside Tutwiler, hidden;
I left him a harp.

 

Blues haiku #5:

after Robert Johnson

Stones in my passway;
Pick them up, go around, stop.
I don't get to choose

Edited October 16, 2017 by jeffcrom

[danasgoodstuff]

On 10/16/2017 at 7:15 PM, jeffcrom said:

Blues haiku #6:

For Robert Johnson

I drank the poison
You poured in my whiskey glass;
Now I'll never die.

 

 Blues haiku #4:

Sonny Boy's tombstone:
Outside Tutwiler, hidden;
I left him a harp.

 

Blues haiku #5:

after Robert Johnson

Stones in my passway;
Pick them up, go around, stop.
I don't get to choose

I like, yours?

[jeffcrom]

7 hours ago, danasgoodstuff said:

I like, yours?

Yes. Much to my surprise, I started obsessively writing haiku a couple of weeks ago. Most are trash, but I noticed that most of the good ones were blues-related, so I'm concentrating on that theme. I messed up the syllable count on my first one, several posts up, and when I revised it, it turned out to be a much better poem.

Blues Haiku #1
after Clara Smith

Water drips from leaves -
I never miss the sunshine;
I'm so used to rain.

Here's one for Atlanta's much-beloved Mr. Frank Edwards, who recorded in the 1940s - and a few hours before he died in 2002. Most nights he could be found on "his" stool in Blind Willie's, the Atlanta blues club, dressed to the nines and enjoying whatever band was on stage that night.

Blues haiku #9
For Mr. Frank Edwards

That's Mister Frank's stool
at the far end of the bar.
One night he was gone.

[jazzbo]

"Sweet Sucker Dance"
Joni Mitchell lyrics (to Mingus composition)

I almost closed the door
Cancelled on everything we opened up for
Tonight the shadows had their say
Their sad notions of the way
Things really are
Damn these blues!
They'd turn my heart against you
Since I was fool enough
To find romance
I'm trying to convince myself
This is just a dance!

We move in measures
Through loves' changing faces
Needy and nonchalant
Greedy and gracious
Through petty dismissals
And grand embraces
Like it was only a dance!

We are survivors
Some get broken
Some get mended
Some can't surrender
They're too well defended
Some get lucky
Some are blessed
And some pretend
This is only a dance!

We're dancing fools
You and me
Tonight it's a dance of insecurity
It's my solo
While you're away
Shadows have the saddest thing to say

Love
We can't live without it
Why do we go out and get it
Just to turn around and doubt it
LIke we're scared to care
It's hard to talk about it
Aw--it's only a dance
Tonight the shadows had their say
There's a sucker born a day
I heard them say
Born to lose
Am I a sucker to love you?

You're such a sweet love
You're a proud man
You're a treasure
Time passes gracefully
Living can be such a pleasure
You make it easy to take it in measures
Like it was only a dance!

We're dancing fools
You and me
Tonight it's a dance of insecurity
It's my solo
Blue way
And shadows have the saddest things to say

We are survivors
Some get broken
Some get mended
Some can't surrender
They're too well defended
Some get lucky
Some are blessed
And some pretend
It's only a dance!

[BFrank]

RIP

Michael McClure, famed Beat poet who helped launch the SF Renaissance, dead at 87