Poem: Sculptured Garden

Sculptured Garden

 

The world lies removed

Sculptured garden's quiet

Only cascading water speaks

And with soothing voice

The world can go on,

For a small time, without me

Sit to take in this peace

 

Copyright SGW 2012

Poem: Breaking Of Dawn

Breaking Of Dawn

Boarded up windows
Broken down trees
Strong winds blowing
Bringing Jersey to her knees

Homes left battered
Power shut down
Shiver in darkness
Flooded downtown

And this hurricane pounded like it never would stop
The ocean’s tide rising, is it ever gonna’ drop?
People lost everything and everything is gone
Sit here just praying for the breaking of dawn

Sea Bright and Asbury, Ocean Grove and LBI
Atlantic City’s buried and gas in short supply
Someone is crying and a handful were lost
Billions in dollars; too high human cost

Boarded up windows
Broken down trees
Strong winds blowing
Bringing Jersey to her knees

Homes left battered
Power shut down
Shiver in darkness
Flooded downtown

But Jersey will find itself in the coastline’s rebirth
The homes be restored; the boardwalk unearthed
These people have fortitude enduring in length
You can knock us down, Sandy, but we will return in full strength

And this hurricane pounded like it never would stop
The ocean’s tide rising, is it ever gonna’ drop?
People lost everything and everything is gone
Sit here just praying for the breaking of dawn

Copyright SGW 2012

Poem: Dream Dance

Dream Dance

‘Twas a fleeting moment
Dancing amongst two dreams
One, more accepted as being days gone by
And, now, the other, mostly unknown until this point in time
Yet no less ephemeral

Dance in the here and now
Embrace the moment
Innocently
Meaningless outside my imagination
Isn’t that just like a dream?

Copyright SGW 2012

Poem: Wind

Wind

Feel you ‘gainst my skin
You can be warm or viciously cold
Mood of the world determines

Quench sweating pores
Feed hunger of exhausted parching
Or chill to bone
Shiver
Wreak havoc so every inch of being knows your touch

Come and go
Rise
Fall
Breach
Soothe
Heal
Comfort

Yours is a tapestry of sensations
Never knowing what you’ll bare
You are the wind blowing

Copyright SGW 2012

Poem: My Poem

My Poem

Yours is a sweetness
Where shy cannot mask beauty
In piercing eyes

I am overcome

Laughter of quiet innocence
Balances fire borne
Of impassioned  yearning

And I have come undone

Wonder as to understandings
Of entangled language
Yet cannot impede two hearts

My heart you’ve won

Penetrating tenderness
Softly whispers of love
Beneath layers of unfolding warmth

This love’s begun

Copyright SGW 2012

*  Influenced by “Once.” 

Once: The Musical

Writing a “review” of a Broadway show is far outside my domain.  Doing so for a Tony Award-winning production seems unnecessary on the part of anyone.  With that in mind, consider this the inspired musings of someone who just saw “Once” at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater and wants to share some words with people, like myself, who are not Broadway connoisseurs.

I thoroughly enjoyed the 2006 movie starring Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, who also wrote and performed the soundtrack.  Like everyone else, I fell quickly for the feature song, “Falling Slowly,” and, like far too few, I was, and am, a fan of the mostly overlooked film.

“Once” on Broadway is better.

Glenn Hansard’s grittier voice and look might have been truer to the “Guy” role, but, as his Tony win states, Steve Kazee is remarkable, too.  Kazee’s voice is superb and he is able to convey a fine blend of pain and lost love with the determination of a dreamer.

Yet, for me, Cristin Milioti, from Cherry Hill, NJ, shines like a super nova as “Girl.”  Her voice is more than able to stand beside Kazee, but it is her convincing portrayal of the Czech immigrant that wins the audience over.  Milioti’s comedic timing is perfect, as she is given most of the performance’s humorous dialogue.  More, though, is how effective she is at bringing emotion to her role.  Petite and very pretty, she tugs at your heart constantly.  Subtle facial expressions, smiles, glints in her eye, and depth of soul seem so clear within her.  Milioti is able to jump from her marriage’s aches to her daughter’s innocent joy to boundless and infectious enthusiasm to inspired artist to deeply vulnerable and in love woman.  All her emotions take you with her as you experience each high and low of the story through “Girl’s” spirit and craving for life.

 “Once” as a play is something more, as well, as to what makes it special.  The direction and choreography of the stage and all the actors is brilliant.  Get to the theater as the doors open.  You will be allowed on state to order a drink at the fully operational bar near the back of the stage that also serves as part of the set design throughout the play.  As I walked about, I noticed various instruments – guitars, violins, mandolins, banjoes, and more – lying about.  I soon found out why.

With the exception of the two leads, the entire cast quietly appears on stage milling about with the audience members.  Soon, a musical free for all of wonderful Irish songs is in full force; the crowd claps and foot stomps along with the performers.  Particular praise for the fine musicianship of David Abeles, Will Connolly, Elizabeth Davis, David Patrick Kelly, Anne Nathan, Andy Taylor, and Erikka Walsh.  What a fun Broadway version of a romping house party!!

This goes on for 15 to 20 minutes (Too short!).  Quietly, ushers escort audience members from the stage as the singing continues.  Finally, someone, Steve Kazee, chimes in, suggested he’d like to sing something, and, without even knowing it, “Once” has begun.

To further add to the uniqueness of “Once,” the cast serves as “orchestra” on stage throughout the show.  The movement and flow through scenes is seamless and clever. 

“Once” might not be the best Broadway musical of the era, and the cast might not go down as legendary performers; the place of the play and actors can be determined elsewhere.    But this is certainly a brilliantly staged, acted and performed musical.  I loved it all and walked out wanting to sing and dance down Broadway.

Poem: Unfurled

Unfurled

Lie in the silence of a softly warmed breeze
Nothing intrudes on the moment at ease
Sun beats its promise in the spring soon to come
A lake starts to breathe under ice on the run
Peaceful’s this glimpse of the blossoming world
Snow melts away to a greenness unfurled
Here I will sit for a passing, brief time
Sanctified blessings I have put into rhyme

Copyright 2011

Poem: Streets

Streets

Sometimes these pathways seem pointless
Obstructions that block where you’ve gone
As I circle and spin and tread water
The mysterious search I am on

Look at the eyes and the smiles
Perhaps mother or brother; my kin
Any might help to define me
Know the where and the when I have been

Are you maybe my blood line?  Can you be what I see?
Each day walk these streets always looking for me

I would so wish to know you as key to my source
From wherever I’ve come in the line of due course

Feel the profound, darkened hollow
In a puzzle of lifetime’s blank slate
Pieces lie scattered and hidden
In the shadows they silently wait

Are you maybe my blood line?  Can you be what I see?
Each day walk these streets always looking for me

I would so wish to know you as key to my source
From wherever I’ve come in the line of due course

But life can at times bring deliverance
And this story will go where it would
Maybe the answers can surface
And erase what’s been misunderstood

Are you maybe my blood line?  Can you be what I see?
Each day walk these streets always looking for me

I would so wish to know you as key to my source
From wherever I’ve come in the line of due course

Copyright SGW2012

Poem: Coffee Ice Cream

Coffee Ice Cream

There is never enough coffee ice cream consumed
With each cup, cone or bowl-full a next is assumed
I could skip any meal for this one special treat
If it met all my health needs, it would be all I would eat

Haagen Dazs, Days and Thomas Sweet’s are a few
Premium samplings of supreme ice cream brew
Slum with B. Robbins and an “Eh” Turkey Hill
Rita’s Ices discovered has coffee ice cream to kill

And a coffee ice cream made cake that my sister devised
Left in the freezer one evening, perhaps slightly unwise
A lunch-stop near Sparta and Moonstruck I found
Serve coffee ice cream – they can expect me around

Coffee ice cream, coffee ice cream in my Jerzy Jung mug
Just give me some scooping of my cold, ice cream drug
Coffee ice cream, coffee ice cream and I always want more
Where the ice cream is offered you will find me for sure

Copyright SGW 2012

Poem: Mirage

Mirage

Vaguely known a common ground
Hear the words; familiar sound
Walk a path ‘twas footstep marked
Search for scenes long since embarked
Within my mind I see the source
The roads I choose doth set the course
As time descends, a past has grown
I’ve come to learn was not my home

Copyright SGW 2012

Poem: Pacific Standard Time

Pacific Standard Time

Sun sets o’er the distance
Fades in ambered glow
Another fleeting moment
A life is breathing slow

Mountains casting shadows
Breeze a shimmer song
Night’s call distant thunder
The heart can beat along

Drift into this evening
Slide within the rhyme
Calmly would imagine
Pacific Standard Time

Copyright SGW 2012


Footnote:  The title was originated at an artistic circle.  I liked it for a poem and ran with it.  I see the Oregon, Washington or northern California coast here.

Poem: Pavilion's Thought

Pavilion's Thought

Sitting where you sat
Having walked in your footprints
Wandering the paths
Admired views, sounds, smells

This place breathes you
And I inhale, hoping for traces of your mind
Soul
Spirit
Wisdom

Precision mixes textures of life
And this mountain home is alive

Echoes, whispers, shadows
Timeless is your touch
That touches my heart

Copyright SGW 2012


Footnote: Written at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home, while sitting in the pavilion overlooking the vineyards that he considered his "private" place where no one could disturb him while he read or thought. I found myself repeatedly drawn to this spot after discovering how Jefferson went to it.

Poem: In The Arms Of The

In The Arms Of The

I've known you not
Yet have
For now as I do
Growth of love blossoms
This currenly unattainable gem
I wish
To be "in the arms of the ...."

Copyright SGW 2011

Poem: Worst Enemy

Worst Enemy

Raced ahead of me I did
Anxiety’s mind a maze of misdirection
Crashing into walls disguised as paths

Synapse shooting with no purpose
Splashed against the calm
The intruder unraveling me
Leaving remnants strewn about
In chaotic mess

Logic is ignored
Reason?
Ha!
Gone in a flash
A whirlwind of me
Won’t rest
Won’t sleep
Won’t be
Until destruction’s complete

“Jumping to the worst conclusion in a single bound”
A Superman of super-over-thinking
Watch me soar …
And crash
My own worst enemy

Footnote: Quote comes from an internet source I could not identify.

Copyright SGW 2012

Poem: Outside In

Outside In

Midpoints are reflective moments
Look back
Ponder
Successes intermingled with failures

Too many failures

Too many roads not taken
Too hurried
Too gun shy
Too perfecting
Too scared

How often lemonade turned to lemons
Yes, it can be done

Unyielding in violent self-immolation

Could haves
Should haves
Would haves

Didn’t

Sit with this latte
Write and look forward
There are curved roads ahead
Eyes cannot see what waits
And what has come before is done
And not a guarantee of what is next

Copyright SGW 2012

Poem: Cliche Poet Voice

Cliché Poet Voice

Step to the mic with a purpose

Unfolding their papers; commencing

Crowd sits attentive to listen

For all that the poet’s dispensing

But many are no more than just speakers

Pretending they’ve crafted a form

Reading an essay or sentences

It is mostly quite endlessly long

Poems, or “spoken word” missives

Lacking any stylistic device

The pretension of artistic creation

In its ease it must surely entice

What more are they doing than talking

Or reading, more descriptively true

Turning their pages and pages

And pages and pages, they do

At times they dispense with the paper (Wow!)

For they have memorized their mind-numbing tripe

So as they wave with their arms all a flutter

They're the dance of a sham archetype

But the piece de resistance – the vocals!

The cliché of the “poetry sound”

Voicing indignation or fervor

It is common and too commonly found

Copyright SGW 2011/2013

Poem: Rockies

Rockies

High over mountains forever to see
Their depth and their wonder are of timeless degree
God sure as sculptor that would shape them so vast
The landscape lies packed by the marvels He’d cast
How mighty their image, how impressive they stand
However they’re looked ‘pon, they are undeniably grand
Eons been weathered as lifetimes dissolve
Formed by duration of no finite resolve
Reminders endure that we are small in their midst
Here they will be when we have long ground to grist

Copyright SGW 2011