“And the cat came back,”
said the Colonel
Sanders-type Italian
dressed properly
for the Parigi visit,
viz. Basque beret and
long Gréco-style scarf
Up on the balcony
across the street
from the café two
French boys were
showering cat &
caboodle with loud
imaginary bullets
While I was sitting
there sipping
the most expensive
expresso ever, taking
the mental notes that
did elicit this snide
little poetic chit
– Leonard “Been to Paris Again” Blumfeld (© 2010)
Written belatedly for napowrimo #18, meow!
All the things observed here truly happened – except that I rearranged them a bit for better effect. Similarities with living persons are definitely intented.
This world is so wide that, even if you flitted around and around it, you would never reach the end of it. This blog is a collage of more or less literary and humorous, outlandish or sometimes even serious glimpses at this great wide world.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Like sunlight dancing on your skin
Live performance by Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell
'Til I Can Gain Control Again
Just like the sun over the mountaintop
You know I'll always come again
You know I love to spend my morningtime
Like sunlight dancing on your skin
I've never gone so wrong
As for telling lies to you
What you see is what I've been
There is nothing I could hide from you
You see me better than I can
Out on the road that lies before me now
There are some turns where I will spin
I only hope that you can hold me now
'Til I can gain control again
And like a lighthouse
you must stand alone
Landmark the sailor's journey's end
No matter what sea
I've been sailing on
I'll always pass this way again
Out on the road that lies before me now
There are some turns where I will spin
I only hope that you can hold me now
Til I can gain control again
(Lyrics and music by Rodney Crowell)
Just like a lighthouse you stand before me
For her
I
The brief instant the beacon hits you right in the eye,
that flash of time remains engraved
I remember a ridiculous instant in the tea kitchen,
with you standing with your back to the paper towel dispenser,
when you smiled at me and I was close to your face,
a flawed face with not the best of skin,
thinking, “Could I possibly love her?”
And now sometimes I stand next to you
and feel that our bodies are one without touching
I look at your face and
every flaw is a mosaic piece of certainty
II
But if I asked you if you felt the same,
you’d deny it with the coldest Asian face on earth
I know you would
You’d switch the beacon off, I’d wander off
You’d let me go until you changed your mind,
fearful suddenly of losing whatever I am,
turning the light on to renew the draw
III
You know I’ll come around again
But sometimes I see doubt come in
(I relish those moments, I admit it)
I see the beacon rotate in the dark,
I know it will come my way
In another instant, when it hits me in the eye,
I’ll know exactly what I feel
– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2010)
Written for napowrimo #19, light bulb moments and napowrimo #21, perfectly flawed.
Notes
Thinking about what to write for this prompt, the word lighthouse came to my mind, and then a shred from a song I later identified as 'Til I Gain Control Again by Rodney Crowell.
To me, parts of the poem have a song-like quality, which may well be due to its source of inspiration.
The song was covered by many singers, including Emmylou Harris and Willie Nelson. Lyrics and a live performance: Like sunlight dancing on your skin.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Going to Paris
I'm about to leave for Paris by TGV to spend the weekend there with good friends and to experience Jim Hall in concert on Sunday.
I'm not taking a computer along, so chances are I will not be able to participate in the next 3 napowrimo challenges.
I'm not taking a computer along, so chances are I will not be able to participate in the next 3 napowrimo challenges.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Friday
For M.
Even on Friday
the fragrance
of your perfume
from Wednesday night
kept drifting up
from my coat
when I moved
my head or arms
in some specific way
In the car
on the way to Stuttgart,
in the concert
with the African music
by Isak Roux
Through the air forest
of the landscape rushing by
And in the silence
lingering between the notes
from piano, marimba,
cello, flute and woodwinds
you were –
off and on –
right there
in me and around me
– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2010)
This one was originally written in German years ago.
Rendered in English and brought to napowrimo #16 because the prompt ("What’s that smell?") made me remember it. It was originally written on a Friday (hence the title) and was now translated on a Friday. That is definitely beyond coincidence :)
Isak Roux is a South-African composer and pianist who lives in Stuttgart, Germany.
A whole lot essential
I said now's the time
for something a whole lot essential
I said now's the time
to not just know you're free
I said now's the time
to act accordingly
I said now's the time
for something a whole lot essential
– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2010)
Written for napowrimo #15, where the task was:
for something a whole lot essential
I said now's the time
to not just know you're free
I said now's the time
to act accordingly
I said now's the time
for something a whole lot essential
– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2010)
Written for napowrimo #15, where the task was:
In a nice private place, pick out a stanza, or a few lines, that you like from a poem that you don’t otherwise feel was very successful. Say them over to yourself.The line from a poem (song) I considered not entirely successful (for reasons of triteness) was "Now’s the time / for something a whole lot special."
Now hum them. See if you can find the tune.
And now sing them aloud. (Who cares if you can sing? You’re in private. And this is poetry!)
Throwing away the rest of the poem, write two more stanzas (stand-alone or connected) that go to the same tune.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Good-bye hello
You say yes, I say no
You say stop and I say go
– The Beatles
For her, as usual
One
We say good-bye,
each one walks on,
to meet again
and again
to let destiny
take its course
Two
you will not turn around,
I know,
tomorrow
and again,
becoming love
full circle
Three
We say good-bye, you will not turn around,
each one walks on, I know,
to meet again tomorrow
and again and again,
to let destiny becoming love
take its course full circle
– Leonard “Cleaver” Blumfeld (© 2010)
Three poems – two separate ones, which are then horizontally combined to form a third. This is called a cleave.
This cleave was written for napowrimo #14.
What is cleave poetry?
Monday, April 12, 2010
Poem Starting with a Line from Norman Dubie
In the near field an idle, stylish horse raised one leg
In her living room in the city of S. her alarm went off
Mine went off ten minutes ago and now I’m sitting here
spouting early poetry having to do with a stylish horse
She is fighting to shake off the softness and warmth
of pillow and cover and embrace
I’m letting the horse put its stylish leg down on the ground
The cold of a cold April morning is seeping into my bones
– Leonard “Far Field” Blumfeld (© 2010)
The idea of napowrimo #13 was to take a line by Norman Dubie as a first line and title the resulting poem “Poem Starting with a Line from Norman Dubie” – both of which I did.
In her living room in the city of S. her alarm went off
Mine went off ten minutes ago and now I’m sitting here
spouting early poetry having to do with a stylish horse
She is fighting to shake off the softness and warmth
of pillow and cover and embrace
I’m letting the horse put its stylish leg down on the ground
The cold of a cold April morning is seeping into my bones
– Leonard “Far Field” Blumfeld (© 2010)
The idea of napowrimo #13 was to take a line by Norman Dubie as a first line and title the resulting poem “Poem Starting with a Line from Norman Dubie” – both of which I did.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
One night in Addis Abeba
For her
Had we listened
to the voice within us,
we would have pursued
careers in diplomacy.
I would have studied
African languages,
as once intended,
majoring in Ethiopian.
You would have gone
to Moscow, as your father
had planned for you,
to ultimately join the corps.
We would have met
at a party hosted by the
Kenian embassy, both
unattached, and shared
a taxi when leaving.
We had the driver
take us to Sebastian’s,
where we had cocktails,
looked into each
other’s eyes, eventually
kissing across the chasm
between the communist
and capitalist worlds,
allowing the voice witin us
to speak and outline brightly
our future.
That did not happen, though.
All we have now is
an obscured variant, with the
feeling of potential lost
and but a skeleton of what
the scheme of fate and time
might have had in store.
We both muted that voice.
– Leonard “Had We But” Blumfeld (© 2010)
Written for The thing you didn’t choose, napowrimo #11 and Vicarious at One Single Impression.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
How can I be so right so wrong
For her
It’s strong and wild like the wind on the Kazakh steppe
It’s having seen the world in pink and now all derision
It’s horse sausage imported and dropped
It’s that glow that made her shine throughout
It’s telling the truth even though it turns against onself
– Leonard “Right and Wrong” Blumfeld (© 2010)
Unusual love (“think of your current love, your current obsession or the one who got away”) for napowrimo #8.
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