Angel of the air and lunar light with blazing florescent wings

"Arc"

  Arc

I wander down the the arc of time 

Each heartbeat rhythm to a rhyme

A riddle ringing through it all the while

The answer hidden in the depths of smile

The pulse of life beats wings upon the skies

We both achieve the arc, the wings let fly

As we gaze into other's eyes

m

"Colours"

  Colours 

A strength resides upon love's grace within eternal halls

No force of time or man can ever breach these sturdy walls

Upon the rampart's walk, impatience stirs, the passion calls

Across the land, the spell as winter's blight of guilt enthralls

But, slowly, now, enchanted land gives way to life and Spring

The crocus blooms, the squirrel romps, and birds begin to sing

The memories retain their force, but glistening returns

The sun upon the dew-filled land evaporates concerns

Despair and all its pitied ilk no longer hold them fast

Discoveries of life and love, the endless vistas vast

The land is well renewed as all the panic now subsides

Upon the mount of memories, the heart so boldly rides

From keep and through the gate, they canter through the broader world

To flowers thrown, and lances raised, the pennant is unfurled

Time has reinforced the colours of this endless love

The gifts are clear, the end is seen, the heart does rise above

"Thoughts and dreams"

 Thoughts and dreams

Riding every wave of life and care

How wonderful, I feel you're always there

Silly it may seem, for sure

That every time I open door

I expect to see your grace

As my heart begins to race

The sound of phone, must be your ring

A passing car, your presence bring

I love your reign

How remarkable it always seems

That you remain

In all my thoughts and dreams

" The Wonder of Her"

 The Wonder of Her

The wonder of Her I do not know

But, oh, so dearly, wish it so

Her magic ripples through the air

The wonder of it leaves you bare

But, oh, I wish it so

To say that She is made of lace

Fulfilled in elegance of grace

Begins the loving, slow

I know, deep down, the wonder lies

That I would never compromise

But, oh, to revel in Her grace

Raise the tide to loving pace

Is all that I would know

This may need work.  I wrote it in a moment, just a few moments ago.

Happy Birthday 2024

 Happy birthday 2024, My Gypsy Empress

You spread your wings and fly beyond all bounds

Of  strictures held by all relentless hounds

You glisten in the morning of new dawn

I pray you love until all wind is drawn

The passion of the moment turns to passion everlasting

Beyond the bounds and scope of life's tremendous casting

My vision has been focused on your love deserved

In presence of spectacular delight as lightly served

As selfless as can vastly be construed and still retain 

The sanity so necessary midst the pouring rain

Don't worry, I don't cry that much

Immensity of time and such

Assures me we connect

All lives in retrospect

I'll love you all eternity, I celebrate each ray

When time arrives in which we both will sing and play

Excitement all I care to feel

Anticipating love so real

Let the hardened armour deliquesce 

Enough for interchange to acquiesce

Happy Birthday 2024

 Happy Birthday 2024, Artful Dodger

Unto the day, impatiently I wait

For wonder that will come to celebrate

I always start on poems way too soon

In restless state beneath the summer moon

This year is different in degree

I start this poem in the lee

Of winter's frost

The wind picks up the song of celebration

Sends it off in high anticipation

Across the sea, the plains, and mountain ranges

Echoes all your grace that never changes

Amidst the forest rumour flies

From the flowers to the skies

Of heart embossed

Wings are spread as angels seek the ground

Flutters stilled as angels seek the sound

Of ache and love that only one can sing

Deep body blows midst revelries that ring

"Windward"

 Windward

I couldn't ask for more from you than what you always gave

The thrill to life, amidst duress, you caught the wind to stave

I'll woo, again, another day

When that wind is on its way

That has always been the need

When you and I and life are freed

While wooing you in ages past

Intent was always but to cast

My life as yours in all the lives 

Through all of it, this heart still thrives

Both future and those lives well gone

Awaiting always the new dawn

Of love as it is spread

From heart unto the head

Before us like a golden field

In which you never need to yield

But love me only because I deserve it

" Vanishing point"

 Vanishing point

Bursting along in the fire of cadenza

Flame of the heart reignites in Firenza

The wisp of the trails of the whirlwind remain

To empty the seats in applause for the reign

Of the grace in this life and a way to anoint

This moment in time through the vanishing point

w

"Kaleidoscope"

Kaleidoscope

Crafted from the cosmos, mingled colors on the run

Venting cosmic teardrops, sparkling diamonds in the sun

Living chips away each day to bring more rays to light

To craft Kaleidoscope that is unrivaled in delight

This is no mere combining of a barrel and some chips

Something more's been added to the whirling as it trips

Gigantic to the minuscule, the measures never change

The tumbling of the diamond chips will always rearrange

All variance that crafts arrays of love that moves the soul

If you reel in close enough, take time to see the whole

It seems I cannot help but be enamoured by your light

The sparkling incandescence midst the blazing of the night

Like warmth upon the brow of blinded beast beneath the sun

Like flame that fills the emptiness as revel is begun

I sought the charm with every sense, then, once I was enchanted

A traipsing vagabond across the darkness has been  granted

A glimpse of something more

A tempo beat, a measured score that changes on a whim

Beneath the dark, a blaze betrays a brilliance as prelim

To ever-changing note and key, excuse me my delight

In ever-coruscating Flow of radiance so bright

I could not ask for more

w

"Blazing sun"

 Blazing sun

Sometimes I think I wander through the woods

Of mind in desperate thought of do's and could's

Because I've ached for many lives before

To love you deeply midst the written score

Of wonder of the cosmos that is sealed

By loving so transcendently revealed

As in the love of two becoming one

That blazes in the night as blazes sun

"Magic"

 Magic

Or, Master of interaction (it ain't me)

She weaves the world in such a way to celebrate the night

Her touch has always traveled so to stir the note's delight

'Tis magic of another kind

Like waves of time transcending from a whirling cabaret

Responding to the heart in ways that mysteries portray

'Tis magic of a different mind

"Raffishly"

 Raffishly

It seems that once I start the poem train

It makes of life its own, begins to reign

Releasing thoughts of you without restraint

Precluding slightest effort or complaint

Becoming nigh impossible to shake

It pours out from my blood and bones, awake

Reaching transcendental, hit the brake

As if all life and love were now at stake

I try so hard to give it lightest touch

But, always, it comes out a bit too much

Chagrin and rolling eyes becoming vogue

Spiced with feelings of the raffish rogue

But, there beneath the tentative and fright

Remains essential thoughts of pure delight

"Ocean III"

 

I walk along the border of the ocean and the land

A split infinity that always offers something grande

Along another border of infinity and spine

The fire alights along with something fine

Whether it is lit with only revels of the mind

Or, consummated in this life, I find

Unswerving faith in this infinity

And you

"Smooth"

 Smooth

Like soft summer showers that light up the skin

Like warm, gentle touch of the loving within

So smooth, like the wash of the sea on the sands 

Like jagged chain lightning ignites as it lands

Like two-twenty volts made of satin and lace

Like rockets exploding and gone without trace

The smoothness erupts and the shock comprehends

That loving will last as each heartbeat transcends

"Blaze"

 Blaze

You blaze incandescent but, then, so do I

My flame to the firmament, you light the sky

It's always the same in all that we do

You light the sky, I light the view

An Amazing Time

I've finally begun to understand music.  It's amazing.  What I have been missing for seven decades is an ear for music, which kinda astounds me, since I love music and listen to it virtually all the time.

I am finally acquiring an ear as I finally get over the mania of a lifetime.  Not you, my dear.  The other one.

In all honesty, I still have a long way to go to understand music as well as I desire.  It will certainly take another lifetime, at least.

 All of it is beginning to fall in place. The tuning device, guitar, and piano all played their part in tuning my ear.  The piano provides a fairly accurate note, the guitar lets you learn to tune in to a note, and the tuning device that I hook on the end of my guitar refines the ear further (hmmm, gotta try it on the piano).  All have helped my ear now that I have time to pay attention.

Kinda the same with the rest of the necessary musical learnings.  I had to, then, hear notes.  Then chords. Then songs and creating music and songs.

Since I've picked away at the guitar all my life, it's the best vehicle for this exploration.  Now, I'm up to picking out the chords in a song (often with a chord chart (that is not always right)), which are much more of a pain because they don't all fit anywhere you like in the song so well.

Let me explain my approach to, well, damn near everything.  I just don't trust a single thing that I am told.  At best, it's a short cut.  That may be okay for some learnings but something remains missing.  I won't do that with anything dear to me.  I learned that lesson early and it was reinforced almost every day of my life.  There is only one exception and that is you, my dear.  Somehow, I don't know how to explain it, but you ring like a chime through me.  It began, of course, with listening to you, which shook me to the ground.  You probably know which song it was.  Then, the expressiveness ... well, I've talked about the rest ad nauseam elsewhere.  You just make perfect sense to me.

Back to music.  I don't much care for the educational setup of prehumanity.  It is great for training Pavlov's Dog but not a human.

I like the scores and scale of notes.  Something worth learning.  Kinda necessary with a piano.

It bugs me that most sites that provide guitar chords (unlike a score) seldom mention the scale in which the music has been written.

I do like the guitar chord summary sites a lot.  But, I don't want the song written out for me when I am fooling around with listening to the song while trying to play along.  I just want the chord summary.  Anything more would cross the boundary into rote.

Chords are new to my exploration.  It is a more complex sound than a single note.  So, I have had to learn to listen to the sound of the chords I play and the sound of the chords being played in the song and make them match.  I have a new song for my epitaph but it falls far short of the mark.  I might have to add some lyrics.  "Gypsy soul" by Van Morrison.

I break down the songs into those I desperately want to play on guitar and those that are just knockout, drop-dead good music that I would love to learn.  Then I have a playlist that started with about 5,000 (all) of the songs currently in residence.  I delete the songs that just absolutely annoy me in that playlist.

With the most special list of songs (only like two or three, right now), I acquire the chords from a site.  I play along with the song, picking out the notes and trying to make the sound of the chords match the music being played.  In both cases, it is very random but it works.  I have figuring out the five key notes that fit easily when playing lead guitar down to a few seconds, even for new songs.  I'm just starting to feel like I've reached a similar plateau for chords.  I am starting to hear where they belong.

It's weird and I have yet to come up with an explanation but, for every song, there are five notes that just work.  They fit.  In many cases, they fit so well that you can play any of those five notes at any point in the song and it sounds right.  I know there are (only typically?) seven notes to a scale (no, I haven't gone and looked if there are other variations with more or less notes. I'm pretty sure there are)..

    Do you see?  Do you see what I bypass by not just learning by rote?  By not being 'told' the way it works, I am free to explore the boundaries that most are taught to just accept (had the same trouble with physics, now that I think about it; I'd love to get into that but no one would be interested).

Oh!  A little more on music that I don't want to forget to mention.  What I have never even considered in the slightest was writing a song.  I'm awful good at putting pen to paper (electronic version of) for poetry, but the thought of attempting to write a song completely blew me out of the water.  I couldn't even conceive the thought.  How in the world??!!?

Bang!  Got it.  I used to go so far as to wonder if the music or the words had to come first.  I think the actual answer is both, from the learning experiences from poetry.  For me, though, it became crystal clear.  I, at least, have to start with the music.  In some ways, that is because I do not entirely understand how it all fits together yet.  Part of making a song is making music that sounds good, the notes fit.  For me, the words are the easy part.  I finally realized, the words will drop into slots once the music is down pat.  In other words, I have to screw around with notes and chords and begin to learn how to put them together without the template of an existing song.  Kinda have to see what happens.  With so many brilliant examples of music surrounding me, I'm not too concerned with going off into the weeds.  Maybe  just a little bit off the path to do some exploring, now and then.

I prefer getting the rote after I have made my own thorough exploration through a journey of innocence;  that can take decades, in some cases.  I don't know if I will ever get to the point of chasing rote with poetry or music.  I doubt it.  There is a sentient purity about both that rote would just tarnish. 

That reminds me of a friend that once told me how she didn't want to go commercial with her music.  With a passion like that?  Why would anyone avoid making a living out of their passion?  Oh, I get it.  The brute impedes.  But, to live your passion?  The extraneous forces can be regulated, to some extent, if you are sharp.  It may be painful along the way, but the end result should be worth it.  Otherwise, you end up in a hole pulling the ground in around you.  It should be easier to pursue, especially for the awesome gender that has been so mistreated down through the ages, as we become human.

Of course, so far (and I don't expect it to change), intellectually, I know how to write a song.  That is a far shot from actually writing a song.  I really can't see it happening in this lifetime.

I am soooo worried this is going to sound crazy.  I'm getting to that age where I have to monitor everything I do.  That is difficult when trying to convey thoughts.  Does that phrase I just cooked up even make sense as an analogy? metaphor?, as an example.

Well, I could rattle on more but, I assure you, it would ramble and digress like an out-of-control freight train.

Barely edited.

    I finally have something to add here.  I've been thinking about the guitar and voice.  On a guitar, I just love to play along with songs and run all over the fret board.

    I once heard a story about a girl that passed through where I was living.  She was a musician and she could play along with any song within a short while after hearing it.  That has always been my goal.

    I am finally reaching that point and it is amazing.  Ranging all over the fret board and soaring along with the song.  Yes, I would like to record it and see if it sounds as good as I think.  I'm still learning but at times I can suit the notes to the song and I feel like I'm adding something to it.  Although what I play is not a set piece, I think it is quite attractive.

    That is a problem I have with concerts.  I was shocked the second time I saw a concert.  It was the same band as in the first concert I ever saw and it was staged.  It was a set piece, from the music, notes, and even the moves of the singer, hanging off of an amp exactly like in the first show.

    Now, that suits the audience.  Sure, but how boring must it be for the musicians?

    My point is that I really like the way I play along with a song and don't worry about making it sound the exact same each time.

    Now, voice.  I think of the way I range on a guitar and I was wondering about singers.  I can hear it occasionally in a song, the little nuances that are spur of the moment.  I was just listening to Cruisin' by Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis.  His voice at point, adds little pieces to the song.  Sorry, not explaining it well at all.

    It's hard without playing a piece.  You know how a lead guitar ranges though.  

    I started thinking about singing; not words, just notes; along with the guitar piece I am playing to sort of get used to it just as I had to do on the guitar.

    But, voice!  What an instrument!

I have started up on the guitar and piano, once again.  There were a lot of reasons I quit playing.  All of them are tentatively resolved.  What surprised me a lot, even though I've played well over ten thousand hours on the piano, I thought I'd be staring from scratch when I tried again.  Not so much.

    On guitar, I can still play pieces that I learned when I was in my twenties without blinking an eye.  The piano, though, was, first of all, learned while in my fifties and sixties, so I didn't think it would stick as well.  Which leads me to another difference about the piano.  I have never looked at the keyboard.  Not once.

    So, it wasn't really the same kind of learning as on the guitar.  Call it more intuitive, if you like, but as I get back at it, I'd call it painful.  Good thing I have patience by the bucketload.  This second time around, it is like a fresh start in some ways and, as I usually find when dropping something for an extended period and returning, it gives me a new perspective.

    The thing is that I treat music just like I treat rhoetry.   To get to the state required to really play along with a song and make it meaningful and soulful, I just about have to get completely out of my mind (not go completely out of my mind).

I just figured out another facet of that ability to stare right while gazing left by kicking my mind into suspension while playing along with a song. 

That suspension of thought is exactly what I do with rhoetry, as well.  It is like a meditation state on steroids.  Maybe even more so with playing music than rhoetry.  That is a high order of thought required while simultaneously letting your mind roam.  Maybe also because it uses muscle memory.  There's still a lot that I do not entirely understand about that suspended state that creates beautiful music and rhoetry with insights.  Wow, composing lyrics.

Just realized Mel Torme pretty much treats his voice like I was saying about playing lead on a guitar.