| Commentary About My
Poems My poetry is a method of renewal both for my soul and the mythological sub references I throw at you. I get a kick out of reinventing and modernizing old metaphors and symbols. But, there's a limbo between those intellects who get it all too quickly and vegies like myself who read no classical literature. On the other hand, I watch the Discovery Channel, History Channel and Biblical documentaries. Late night videos. |
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| Flashlight Gig | It's not really about what was
the cardboard box for! ( a metaphor for imagination, ingenuity, and
resourcefulness.) If you must know the answer it's the same as I
have repeated endlessly about echoing receptacles- waste cans for
clarinets, etc. The echo returns immortal qualities, in this case
group awareness. Venus preserves the soul inside echoing tombs.
(i.e. her son Echo)
Keeping personal integrity alive is sometimes costlier than risking
a bad impression, i.e. the golden apple contest, or the Hippodrome
opening. |
|
Thru the Kitchen with Gypsies |
My own urbanized myth if you
will, says that you CAN change, but at great cost to others around
you; there is no right way to do this unless you are very wealthy. I
claim mental duress and the call of the wild, no excuses. The myth
is something your friends and colleagues create after you
vacate the building or previous lifestyle. |
|
Darkness Fades to Hope |
A true story,
actually happened, have not been able to access actual photos of
incident even tho the Boston Herald has my proof somewhere (Oct.
64). The poem, as always, is not so
much about what actually happened as what does the role of religion
play in our lives. Do we stop what we are doing or is it ok just to
reflect on experience, even if it takes until later on in life to
reach enlightenment? The Chubby Checker reference is about the
success of Civil Rights Reform and the awareness of our culture.
Issues of color have faded. |
|
Mass Grave That Lies Beneath |
A sequel to
the Darkness Fades poem: an unexpected trip to hell is necessary for spiritual death, rebirth, and rejuvenation. However, unless you come back and are not fooled by the phantoms you encounter, your death may be permanent. The poet takes this plunge instinctively, hoping to push on thru to the other side, find great enlightenment and wisdom, but, the pitfalls, vices and delights, excesses and addictions could delay you till the end of life. I was there for 30 years before returning. Of course, I came back weird. We all do, if we come back at all. |
|
Miradlo Por Donde Va - 1969 |
One of my earliest
Boston poems includes memories of Mexico and references to my first
wife - a Sagittarius, and to De Lorca whose symbolic struggle
between Seville and Cordoba is a night display of fiery arrows.
There were no jobs in 1970 and could not believe how many college
grads were gathered there at the unemployment building, all of us
crowding the streets. I probably had more faith in the future than I
did in myself - but look where it went. |
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|
Lightheaded Gig Near Death |
A gig at JMU started
out warm and sunny but changed back and forth to drizzle and cold.
Sometimes when you are sick with fever and flu you get lightheaded
and even euphoric as though death seems like a pleasant way out of a
tough gig. Almost patriotic perhaps, having but one life to give for
my gig. Curfew is a simplistic answer to those who don't know any
better than to play in the rain. |
|
| Improvisation 7 | It is hard for me to
imagine how fake music and musicians can inspire anyone to pursue a
music career. My teachers all said you had to struggle, get in trouble with your art forms and projects, find solutions that are both personal and cosmically profound. I know that's allot to ask of the average student, but I prefer that path to any other. Honest music can take any form - fake music has too many constraints, dress codes, business principles and commercial structures. It's always in bed with something else. Also, it tends to be programmatic, literal and or sentimental. The EZ listening elevator won't take you there, but because it is so redundant you can practice thousands of overlapping patterns by playing along. Best of all, you can always revive old music and make it more wondrous by your own hand. |
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|
Long Cosmic Cry of the Saxophone 1a & b, 2- 6 |
I
started out writing Improv # 8 and I just couldn't stop myself - I
was looking for my masterwork. The print version of this comes with
notes for some of my sub references. See the Print Version for footnotes such as:
I want there to be as much on the
surface of my work as there is trapped in the subsequent hellish and
heavenly strata of it. You can dig if you want to but it's not
required. In medieval times and up to the end of the 19th century
all such references were well known and understood if you had any
kind of college learning. |
| Improvisation 9 | I suppose if Robert
Pinsky inspired me with anything it was this poem, the short list of
correlatives and abbreviated profundities ending in my this, my
that, my everything and not all that original. I asked him if he had
written other saxophone poems to which he answered that he had
written only the one and
had moved on. I could no more move on than stop breathing - the sax is
such a
huge part of my spiritual existence that I have become shamanistic about the sax -
lived and died there and come back on the Sunken truth of vaporized
tears. |
| Improvisation 10 | New Years is my
constant reference because in the old days time was believed to
recycle and start over - it was always the same ole calendar
chiseled in stone. Holidays were for various gods and their feasts.
The things we celebrate on today's New Years are vein, trifle and
boring. We have no purpose beyond making fun of ourselves (a good thing but...) Too much of it will make you sick. I use sax case mold and ref. to foxfire (mold) to suggest Elysian drinks of maddening potions to cause spiritual death and rebirth. But, I'm the only one holding the moldy brass vessel. The reborn man is ready for all the new gimmicks invented for consumers. See New Years Gig for more. |
| Improvisation 11 | |
| Improvisation 12 |
| Angel 2000 | |
| Saxmos | |
| Girl in 1st Chair | True but her name will die on my lips. |
| Playing in the Dark |
| Sirens | |
| Hell is Within | Was reprinted by my friend Paul Rattabaugh in his high school anthology, wow. |