music
A Poem A Day #201: Sawing Voice
A Poem A Day #200: Saw Lady of the Subway
A Poem A Day #182: String Poetry
A Poem A Day #125: The Music
My Poem “David Bowie”
Over the course of his life he excited, he electrified, he entertained, and he enriched the world through his gift of creating art and music that instantly struck and stayed in the heart and in the mind of people, like a bolt of lightning from the sky, that made people feel, think, and imagine things that they may never have felt, thought, nor dreamt of before. He had a voice, he had a spirit, he had a charm, a charisma, a presence that could immediately captivate crowds of fans and make them want to sing and dance and lift up their eyes and their hands, because he was able to make people feel as if they could reach out and touch the energy of a star that could inspire them with a purpose that was able to show just how varied and full of colour each of us are - and to this day he and his music makes us consider a variety of possibilities, including whether there really is Life on Mars. He was a man who was not afraid of change, nor of changing his identity and how he was perceived... he was a man who was not afraid of experimentation nor of collaboration with fellow artists who he jived with and felt as if they understood him and also spoke the language of magic, imagination and inspiration that he did. He was a hero, and he still is... he was, he is, and he always will be an icon and a god of music in the eyes of millions of people around the world - and who he was and what he did was all that he ever wanted to be: a man who transcended but who was also connected to the world, a man who left an indelible legacy, a man who gave us all a part of his soul to remember him by, a man who had he not died would today have celebrated turning 75, a man whose face we will forever see, a man whose songs will be listened to by generation after generation on repeat: the man, the legend, the one and the only David Bowie.
My Poem “The Christmas Spirit”
As so often happens, I was sitting at my usual table in Starbucks when a song that I had never heard by one of my favourite artists - the one and the only "Man in Black", Johnny Cash - started to play... the song was "I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day" - and as soon as I heard this Christmas carol in its own right that blessed all who heard it "peace on Earth" and "goodwill to men", I started to think about the true meaning of the season and why music has always been an important way for families and individuals to say what they want to say to one another. Music is just as fundamental to some as living is to breathing for others... the voice of a singer can break down barriers and unite people from many countries, with many accents, with many back stories - who can all find times to set aside their differences whenever they come together and stop and listen to someone with a message they felt within their heart as well as within their mind that someone else needed to hear. Christmas songs are only played at this time of the year, and every year new songs are written and recorded by artists that dream of being number one and perhaps remembered as fondly as those that repeatedly return to our ears year after year; however, I would say there are only a handful of Christmas songs that are enjoyed, replayed, and loved by many: John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over), "Last Christmas" by Wham!, "White Christmas" as sung by Bing Crosby, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" by Band Aid, "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues, and, of course, "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey - because these songs have over time become quintessential in capturing the Christmas spirit like no others are able to, and personally all these songs always put a smile on my face every time I hear them and make me more and more ready for Christmas and overflowing with Christmas cheer.
A Poem A Day #62: The Christmas Spirit
My Poem “Jingles”
There is a reason why those jingles that we first hear as a child stay with us for so long... there is a reason why those Christmas songs that are replayed on the radio get stuck in our head and then get repeated by us just for fun... there is a reason why a Number One song catches the attention of someone, gets shared, and then goes viral simultaneously all around the world... there is a reason why a certain song sticks out among the crowd of infinite streams that there are and does not fade out of the public consciousness no matter what... there is a reason why we get attached to songs, to artists, to music, to the words of lyrics that seem to say everything that we openly want to convey... there is a reason why when we need to remember something, someone, somewhere, at some time in our life, we fall back upon that spark of magic that can only be experienced by hearing it with your ears as well as feeling it with your heart - that can make you close your eyes, that can take your breath away, and can sometimes give you goose pimples... there is a reason why we hold on to memories of childhood experiences that can easily return to our thoughts after hearing the slightest of jingles.
My Poem “Soapbox”
In any public area there exists an arena where those who have both the creative spark and also the drive to perform can show an audience what calls out to be heard within their core... the stage might be a grand bandstand, or perhaps just upturned used crate - but no matter who they are, or where they are, what every performer wants more than anything is to perform. Most performers who perform on street corners, or in the middle of a town square, do not do so simply for monetary gain - because the first love of most performers who stand with their instrument, a live microphone, and a speaker by their side, is that of sharing what they feel for the music within them and the magic of music that has the power to draw everyone. For most performers a stage of any kind feels like a second home - and every time every performer feels those pre-performance nerves sometimes they feel as if they have to put on some kind of metaphorical second skin, or step back into a psychological pair of comfortable shoes, with which they can use to help them soak up every ounce of attention upon them so that they can convert their audience's enthusiasm into a fuel to turbo-charge their art; however, for the more reticent of performers, a spotlight may be the last place that they want to be - but even the most introverted artist can, over time, find a way to create an alter ego with which, in a sense, they can become someone else, and make it possible for them to climb to heights from where they can make themselves, and others, believe that they have this extraordinary, electrifying, transcendental and other-worldly power. In this day and age a stage does not need to be a physical place at a particular time... in this day and age, because of the constant advances in technology that have been made in the way that we all communicate with one another, anyone, anywhere, can do what they love, and they can be whomever they want to be, and put on a live performance of their own - even from the sanctuary of their own bedroom... in this day and age someone who is categorized as "unknown artist" can quickly create something and go "viral", and for as long as the place where their performance was shared remains, archived forever for posterity, someone, anyone, could become a constant source of hope and joy for someone - especially for those people who, at times, feel lost... in this day and age you don't need to have a message written in the sky to get noticed, because anybody with the tenacity, the courage, the spark, and the love for performing - that every performer has within them - can find the perfect place, can find their perfect audience, where, and to whom, they never want to step off the stage of, or say goodbye to - because every performer has their soapbox.
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