My Poems’ Soundtracks: Blondie Pagan and Danish D-A-D.

I just wrote a little pagan poetry ditty over at travel25years:

I don’t need to travel the Earth
to be where I feel home
because I’m already
in a pagan state
pagan state of mind.

… to introduce a couple of gYgPOP (greenYgreyPinkyOrangePurple) clips from documentaries about the old Native American settlement at Cahokia, and had a song playing in my mind.

Blondie – Song and History

After a while I thought the chorus was Living in the Real World, but still didn’t know who’s song it was. I was shocked to find it was Blondie, and it was their song; although written by keyboardist Jimmy Destri according to Wikipedia.

Eat to the Beat (1979) was the last album that Blondie were my favourite band, due to musical differences! (self-parodying a cliché reason when bands break up).

They mellowed out the next year with Autoamerican, while I went in the opposite direction, getting into heavy rock and metal full-time!

The Poem of Two Songs 

My recent Folding Mirror poem Fracking My Brain Up… was so epic, taking about a week of thinking and psyching up before writing it, that the soundtrack morphed in my brain from the Spinners’ Working My Way Back To You (Fracking My Brain Up For You)…

… to D-A-D’s Sleeping My Day Away… (Fracking My Brain Away)!

Muse Meteor Message? Did Space Rock Open Earth to Univeral Mind?

After declaring my last poem written and posted on this site a fortnight ago a bit of a muse-inspired stream of consciousness moment of inspired clarity, including the lines:

brain freeflowing
open to cosmos
like puddle to cloud
ocean and rain

and writing about UFOs/space a lot lately, I thought it was a coincidence when I saw a news story about a meteor streaking across the USA before landing in Vinales, Cuba – cover star location for the second of the greenYgrey trilogy: Werewolf of Oz: Fantasy Travel by Google Maps.

Meteor Day Before

Although I’m pretty sure I saw the meteor story after writing the poem, it happened the day before.

Thankfully, nobody was killed, or I wouldn’t bother writing about it, as I know some people will blame me, with a ‘kill the messenger’ philosophy – pagan (environmental) ones anyway!

Open to Space

While I don’t think there’s any connection really, my ‘romantic’ side thinks the meteor could have broken a hole in the Earth’s protective atmosphere the day before, opening the world up to space, and the universal mind – muse, with some of it landing in my brain, inspiring the poem?

It’s a possibility, although my rational side says it’s just a coincidence.

Communications Fourth Dimension: Zero, like a Prequel Protocol, or Ghost…

Yesterday, I proposed that modern communication was being reduced to double-dimensionality by new social media, with somebody jumping on any words and taking them out of context, misunderstanding them or considering them ‘out-of-date’. While out on a beautiful mid-MUSE (my Midwinter Until Spring Equinox, January 21st – March 21st, acronym, with loads of meaning) walk and run in the sun yesterday, after writing the poem explaining the ‘Third Dimension’ of communication, I thought that another I’ve thought of is when no meaning is intended, but people read something into it; looking for meaning in any words, no matter how empty of thought they were when created.

After explaining the three meanings yesterday, this fourth one is like a zero protocol;  prequel to a trilogy, reminding me of Ghost Protocol, which a little eerily was the fourth in the Mission Impossible series… and sometimes I think my writing is MI too! To be fair, this is a pretty basic poem, but I think yesterday’s was somewhat of a classic, so please consider this a lull in my genius, like a musical group playing a slow song to give themselves and the crowd a breather!:

Circular Diamond, Dimension Zero

no
messaging
of victory paean
words without meaning

round-a-bout, merry-go-round

attempt at minimality
no refrain poetry
rhyming
yes

From a quick web search:

paean – A paean is a song or lyric poem expressing triumph or thanksgiving;
or a metrical foot used in both poetry and prose, consisting of four syllables, with one of the syllables being long and the other three short.
refrain – The refrain is the stanza that keeps on repeating after some lines in a poem.
minimality –  Smallest in amount or degree;
or barely adequate.

Mirror Poem Inspired by The Fall’s Mark E. Smith Documentary

I started writing the poem below as the introduction this now is, but T.V., brekkie and coffee rhyming inspired me to put it into Folding Mirror (my) poetry form.

Making Axl Rose Look Sociable

I think I’d heard of The Fall before Mark E. Smith’s recent passing, but didn’t know anything about them or him. I’ll let you make your own minds up if you watch the documentary, embedded after the poem, but will of course answer any questions and give my opinion if you ask any in the comments.

For those new to FMPs, the word count has to mirror, inspired by forms like the Haiku’s 5-7-5, but FMPs can be any length, and have any subject.

This poem mirrors names in the headline, with Mark Smith and the Magnificent Seven having the additional mirror of both being MSs (which I didn’t notice at the time of writing the poem.)

The narcissistic self-parody me jokes that he only included the E to have a 10-letter name like me, which is obviously just a funny thought, as he predates me biologically, and much more creatively.

The outer lines mirror 5-5-2,2-5, with the central line a 4,4.

There are also capital-letter words in the two outer lines, and two inner ones.

Mark E. Smith and the Magnificent Seven

This morning turned off T.V.
after brekkie and strong coffee
work ready, write away
but YouTube tempted astray

it was a documentary, calling out to me

didn’t know TheFall’s inspiration
five minutes, brain creation
hour later there were seven
Magnificent memory from movie heaven

 

Punk Inspiration, Angelic Exaltation

A combination of having time and exercising earlier inspired me to put some recent memories and thoughts into rhyming lines, and watching a Dead Boys concert from CBGB’s in 1977 (as they’re playing the Brudenell Club in Leeds in a couple of days – would like to go but not planning to, unless this poem leads to more sales of my punky books!) inspired me to turn them all into my first new Folding Mirror poem for a few years, ending with a last two lines last words anagram :

Before Burns, Brudenell Boys

I’m always happy
now I’m dead
only 1 in 100
pretty early bird

I’d barely slept, dreamt beauty within

read Metro casually
cherub of the century
rearranging old need
new everyday eden

If you like the above there’s lots more on the site, and collections of my punky poetry available on Amazon, Smashwords etc. If I have any new sales I’ll go to the Dead Boys!

Mirror Poem Travels Norway’s Bergen – Oslo Railway

Marc Latham’s latest Folding Mirror poem was inspired by an article he just wrote about Bergen for the TravelThruHistory website (not published yet). It brought back memories of his journeys between Haugesund, Bergen, Voss and Oslo alongside fjords and over mountains on the Hardangervidda plateau. Here it is:

Highest Railway Line, A Beautiful Time

Riding fjord mountain roads
ferry keeps afloat
travelling Haugesund
to Bergen
by bus and boat.

Ruby Sunday snaking
east with Osteroy
across water
to north
Dale, Voss and Naeroy

lead to Flam – Myrdal, metres 1222 ascent at Finse

Orteren, Ustevatn and Rodungen
looking south
over snow
swallowed wide open
Hardangervidda plateau mouth

Forest and lake scenery
to Oslo
through Honefoss
waterfalls accompany descent
completing la vida loco.

Marc Latham’s central site is the Greenygrey (http://www.greenygrey.co.uk), and he has books available on Smashwords and Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/author/marclatham).

Poem about Poetry Day’s Creation Valuation

Marc Latham’s newest Folding Mirror poem is about the creation of poetry, and how it would be nice to earn a living from creating a poem a day, written in an hour, and have the rest of the day off; especially in the current British heatwave!

Marc thinks that a mirror poem should be enough work for the day, but posting for free means no money; luckily, circadian rhythm provides second opportunity

Valmiki, a contemporary of Rama composes the Ramayana. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Morning Motion, Circadian Creation

Wake Up!
fresh mind
new day
coupla coffees
write a poem
thinking that one
day’s work done

posted for free, earning no money

stay on computer
finding more writing
fiction or journal
midday meal
nap refresher
second wind
Cyclic Rhythm°

English: Diagram illustrating the influence of dark-light rythms on circadian rythms and related physiology and behavior. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Marc Latham’s central site is the Greenygrey (http://www.greenygrey.co.uk), and he has books available on Smashwords and Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/author/marclatham).