A Timelessness #2 by Perle Fine

A Timelessness #2 by Perle Fine

A Timelessness #2
1974
Abstract
Oil on canvas

‘A Timelessness #2’ was a part of Fine’s Accordments series begun in the early 1970s. Employing vertical and horizontal lines she created a mesmerizing grid in shades of yellow and white. Filled with light the painting emanates a quietness. With the Accordment paintings Fine’s interest in nature, movement, and repetition created a presence of sublime awe.

Perle Fine 1905-1988

Perle Fine
Abstract Expressionism
Born: 1905, Massachusetts, USA
Nationality: American
Died: 31 May 1988, New York, USA

Fine was an abstract expressionist painter best known for her work combining fluid and brushy rendering of materials and the use of biomorphic forms within irregular geometrical shapes

Der Freischütz by Carl Maria Von Weber

Carl Maria von Weber 1786-1826

Der Freischütz
1821
Opera

Carl Maria Von Weber
Romantic, Opera
Born: 18 November 1786, Eutin, Germany
Nationality: German
Died: 5 June 1826, London, UK

Von Weber was a composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and critic of the Romantic era. He is best known for his operas and was a pioneer of the German Romantsche Oper

Midnight by Louise Gluck

Louise Glück 1943-

Midnight

Speak to me, aching heart: what
Ridiculous errand are you inventing for yourself
Weeping in the dark garage
With your sack of garbage: it is not your job
To take out the garbage, it is your job
To empty the dishwasher. You are showing off
Again,
Exactly as you did in childhood–where
Is your sporting side, your famous
Ironic detachment? A little moonlight hits
The broken window, a little summer moonlight,
Tender
Murmurs from the earth with its ready
Sweetnesses–
Is this the way you communicate
With your husband, not answering
When he calls, or is this the way the heart
Behaves when it grieves: it wants to be
Alone with the garbage? If I were you,
I’d think ahead. After fifteen years,
His voice could be getting tired; some night
If you don’t answer, someone else will answer

Louise Gluck
Born: 22 April 1943, New York, USA
Nationality: American

Glück is a poet, essayist, and winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize for Literature. While in high school she suffered from anorexia nervosa and later overcame the illness. Often described as autobiographical poet Glück’s work is best known for its emotional intensity and for drawing on mythology or nature to reflect modern life

Heaven by The Psycheldelic Furs

The Psychedelic Furs

Heaven
Album: Mirror Moves
Date: 1984
Genre: Alternative/Indie
Artist: The Psycheldelic Furs

The Psychedelic Furs are a rock band formed in 1977 in London, UK. Led by brothers Richard Butler (vocalist) and Tim Butler (bass guitarist) the Furs are one of the bands spawned from the British post-punk scene with their music spanning several phases from an austere art rock sound to new wave and hard rock

Monument (Ragtag Daily Prompt)

Inspired by and written for the Ragtag Daily Prompt, my thanks to Dr Kottaway

RDP Wednesday: monument

Avebury

Form: Awdl Gywydd

Standing here from long ago
But who knows of their secrets
Of ancient times that they hold
They stand boldly, no regrets

Here my heart joined with my soul
Became whole so I could know
From the stones and their small talk
The path to walk so I’d grow

©JezzieG2024

Guidance of Light

Guidance of Light
Form: Ivorian Sonnet 117

When lovers meet beneath a starry night
The stars watch awhile providing their light

But the moon and stars must travel through space
While we mere mortals can only stay here
Celestial beings through the night sky race

Once they were mortals living on the ground
They fell in love until their time moved by
Lovers together eternally bound
Drifting their own way across the night sky

The lovers who meet will soon fly up high
Traversing the sky and making no sound
Their destiny blessed with a loving grace
To share with lovers who meet in their sight
The guiding lights that sometimes feel so near

©JezzieG2024

Chants d’Espagne by Isaac Albeniz

Isaac Albeniz 1860-1909

Chants d’Espagne
1892
Classical

Isaac Albeniz
Post-Romantic
Born: 29 May 1860, Camprodon, Spain
Nationality: Spanish
Died: 18 May 1909, Cambo-les-Bains, France

Albeniz was a virtuoso pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the foremost composers of the post-romantic era and had a significant influence on his contemporaries and younger composers. Albeniz is best known for his piano works inspired by Spanish folk music

Laughing Rose by William Henry Davies

William Henry Davies 1871-1940

Laughing Rose

If I were gusty April now,
How I would blow at laughing Rose;
I’d make her ribbons slip their knots,
And all her hair come loose.

If I were merry April now,
How I would pelt her cheeks with showers;
I’d make carnations, rich and warm,
Of her vermillion flowers.

Since she will laugh in April’s face
No matter how he rains or blows —
Then O that I wild April were,
To play with laughing Rose

William Henry Davies
Born: 3 July 1871, Newport, Wales
Nationality: Welsh
Died: 26 September 1940, Gloucestershire, England

Davies was a poet and writer. He spent much of his life as a tramp or hobo in the UK and the USA yet became one of the most popular poets of his time. His themes included his observations on life’s hardships, the human condition reflected in nature his travels as a tramp, and the characters he met. Davies is classified as a Georgian Poet, however much of his writing is not typical of the group in style and theme

God in an Alcove by Bauhaus

Bauhaus

God in an Alcove
Album: In the Flat Field
Date: 1980
Genre: Alternative/Indie
Artist: Bauhaus

Bauhaus was a rock band formed in Northampton, UK in 1978. Renowned for their dark image and gloomy sound the band was one of the pioneers of Gothic Rock, however, they mixed various genres including dub, glam rock, and funk. The band’s line-up consisted of guitarist and saxophonist Daniel Ash, vocalist and instrumentalist Peter Murphy, drummer Kevin Haskins, and bassist David J

War by Paula Rego

War by Paula Rego

War
2003
Surrealism
Pastel on paper aluminium
Collection of the Tate, United Kingdom

Reminiscent of Rego’s earlier pollical collages, ‘War’ is a flurry of chaotic activity of absurd characters, part human and part creature, playing out a scene of tragedy. In an unreal space, neither inside nor outside, the image is unsettling with a woman holding an injured child, while two more children are seen pleading and crying in the foreground. The figures wear rabbit masks erasing their identity as a sad result of war

Paula Rego 1935-2022

Paula Rego
Surrealism, School of London, Feminist Art
Born: 26 January 1935, Lisbon, Portugal
Nationality: Portuguese-British
Died: 8 June 2022, London, UK

Rego was a visual artist, considered the preeminent female artist of the late 20th and early 21st century. She is best known for her paintings and prints based on storybooks. Rego’s style evolved from abstract to representational and she favoured pastels over oils. Her work often reflected feminism

Late Again (Simply 6 Minutes)

Inspired by and written for Simply 6 Minutes, my thanks to Christine

Simply 6 Minutes – Welcome to the Challenge: 05/14/2024

Form: Italian Sonnet 5

Please wait for me as I am running late
I was dreaming nuts and missed the alarm
And staying up last night just tempted fate
I’m in a mad dash no time to be calm
I promised I’d be on time for our date
Like a gentleman with more graceful charm
I’m never early, always making haste
But this time I thought I’d try to be chaste

They gave me a watch to help me with time
It still sits neatly here in my pocket
‘You’ll be late for your funeral’ you said
But I can’t see that as being a crime
For that date, I won’t rush like a rocket
‘I’ll be my usual self then’ I said

Time: 7 minutes

Word Count: 119

©JezzieG2024

Beautiful (One-Liner Wednesday)

Inspired by and for One-Liner Wednesday, my thanks to Linda

One-Liner Wednesday – Ten years and two months

Form: One-Liner

The Quote:

because all love is beautiful; love knows no barriers and has no boundaries. I love you always, Gabbie xxxx

The song:

Bayreuth Return by Klaus Schulze

Klaus Schulze 1947-2022

Bayreuth Return
1975
Electronic

Klaus Schulze
Electronic
Born: 4 August 1947, Berlin, Germany
Nationality: German
Died: 26 April 2022

Schulze was an electronic music pioneer, composer, and musician. He was a member of the Krautrock bands Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel, and the Cosmic Jokers under the alias of Richard Wahnfried before he launched a solo career

Imagining Defeat by David Berman

David Berman 1967-2019

Imagining Defeat
1999

She woke me up at dawn,
her suitcase like a little brown dog at her heels.

I sat up and looked out the window
at the snow falling in the stand of blackjack trees.

A bus ticket in her hand.

Then she brought something black up to her mouth,
a plum I thought, but it was an asthma inhaler.

I reached under the bed for my menthols
and she asked if I ever thought of cancer.

Yes, I said, but always as a tree way up ahead
in the distance where it doesn’t matter

And I suppose a dead soul must look back at that tree,
so far behind his wagon where it also doesn’t matter.

except as a memory of rest or water.

Though to believe any of that, I thought,
you have to accept the premise

that she woke me up at all

David Berman
Born: 4 January 1967, Virginia, USA
Nationality: American
Died: 7 August 2019, New York, USA

Berman was a musician, singer-songwriter, and poet. He founded the indie rock band Silver Jews in 1989 with Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich. He was the only consistent member of the band until it dissolved in 2009. Berman’s creative priority was his abstract and autobiographic lyrics which he worked over extensively

Fire and Ice by Pat Benatar

Pat Benatar

Fire and Ice
Album: Precious Time
Date: 1981
Genre: Rock
Artist: Pat Benatar

Pat Benatar is a rock singer-songwriter. She is a four-time Grammy Award winner with multiple platinum albums and Billboard Top 40 singles. Benatar’s debut and breakthrough album was ‘In the Heat of the Night’ in 1979, and her most successful album was ‘Crimes of Passion, in 1980

Untitled by Ad Reinhardt

Untitled by Ad Reinhardt

Untitled
1938
Abstract
Oil on canvas
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

This untitled canvas presents a stark contrast with Reinhardt’s previous artistic works. The artist’s vibrant palette has turned a rectangular arrangement of shapes into a festival of colour that engages the viewer.

Ad Reinhardt 1913-1967

Ad Reinhardt
Abstract-Expressionism, Modern Art, Hard Edge Painting
Born: 24 December 1913, New York, USA
Nationality: American
Died: 30 August 1967, New York, USA

Reinhardt was an abstract painter, a member of the American Abstract Artists, and part of the movement that became known as Abstract Expressionism. Reinhardt wrote and lectured on art and was a major influence on conceptual art, minimal art, and monochrome painting.

A Year in the Life – Day 129

Day 129
Prompt: What is your spirit animal?

Hi Nigel,

‘Hiya! That has to be one of yours!’

Sure is

‘Can I have more than one?’

Of course, and most people do

‘What about the Chinese horoscope animal?’

I would say you can include whatever feels right to you

‘So the monkey is one of mine.’

By the Chinese Zodiac, yes you are.

‘And by the Celtic Zodiac, I am a cat.’

Yes, you have been doing your research, haven’t you?

‘Just flicking through some of your books, mate.’

Looking for rabbits, were you?

‘Ah, yes, I can’t forget the rabbit, he is definitely one of my soul spirits.’

As the rabbit is your favourite animal, it is definitely likely to be a spirit animal for you

‘So that makes yours the penguin.’

No, I like pengwings but it’s not my favourite animal or bird

‘Oh!’

The raven and most corvids are my spirit kin

‘Ravens are bringers of doom, though’

No, they are not, and they are not evil either, that is to misrepresent the corvids completely

‘But they can be’

Yes, they can be as they are seers, and not everything we foresee is rainbows and glitter

‘So you see the bad things too’

Of course

‘That’s not nice. Why see bad things at all, as then you know the dreadful thing is going to happen.’

Ah! Nige, it’s not saying it will happen, it’s saying it could happen. It’s more of a warning

‘A butt kick you are doing something wrong, then’

Yes

‘That’s pretty useful’

It is

‘Do you trust it?’

I do now, I used to think I could outsmart it

‘Ow, that’s a butt hurt’

Mostly, yes. See you tomorrow, Nige.

©JezzieG2024

Armchair (Ragtag Daily Prompt)

Inspired by and written for the Ragtag Daily Prompt, my thanks to Martha Kennedy

RDP Tuesday! Armchair!

Form: Awdl Gywydd

Now that everything is done
There’s one more thing that I need
To relax and let it go
Just so my peace I can feed

Assam poured into a cup
My feet up, that’s what to do
A quiet moment with tea
And my eyes see only you

©JezzieG2024

Here by Grace Paley

Grace Paley 1922-2007

Here

Here I am in the garden laughing
an old woman with heavy breasts
and a nicely mapped face

how did this happen
well that’s who I wanted to be

at last a woman
in the old style sitting
stout thighs apart under
a big skirt grandchild sliding
on off my lap a pleasant
summer perspiration

that’s my old man across the yard
he’s talking to the meter reader
he’s telling him the world’s sad story
how electricity is oil or uranium
and so forth I tell my grandson
run over to your grandpa ask him
to sit beside me for a minute I
am suddenly exhausted by my desire
to kiss his sweet explaining lips

Grace Paley
Born: 11 December 1922, New York, USA
Nationality: American
Died: 22 August 2007, Vermont, USA

Paley was an author, poet, teacher, and political activist. She wrote three acclaimed collections of short stories about everyday conflicts and heartbreaks of city life influenced by her childhood in the Bronx. Paley was a feminist and anti-war activist

Entertain Me by Soft Cell

Soft Cell

Entertain Me
Album: Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
Date: 1981
Genre: Alternative/Indie
Artist: Soft Cell

An English synthpop duo, Soft Cell came to prominence in the early 1980s and consists of Marc Almon (vocals) and David Bell (instrumentalist). They are best known for the album “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret” (1981) and for UK Top 40 hits such as “Tainted Love,”, “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye,” and “Bedsitter.”

Thanksgiving by John Currin

Thanksgiving by John Currin

Thanksgiving
2003
European Renaissance
Oil on Canvas
Collection of the Tate, United Kingdom

‘Thanksgiving’ portrays three young women of similar appearance. Whilst the title refers to the American holiday, the clothing, furniture, and style of the painting are more representational of European Renaissance paintings with the room decorated elaborately with a silver mirror and a chandelier

John Currin 1952-

John Currin
Portraiture
Born: 1952, Colorado, USA
Nationality: American

Currin is a painter based in New York City best known for his technical proficiency in satirical figurative paintings that challenge controversial sexual and societal topics. Currin often distorts the erotic forms of the female body and are often reflections of himself rather than real people

Adiós Nonino by Astor Piazzolla

Astor Piazzolla 1921-1992

Adiós Nonino
1959
Tango

Astor Piazzolla
Tango, Classical
Born: 11 March 1921, Argentina
Nationality: Argentine
Died: 4 July 1992, Buenos Ares, Argentina

Piazzolla was a tango composer, bandoneon player, and arranger. He revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style, nuevo tango. Incorporating jazz and classical music. A virtuoso bandoneonist Piazzolla performed his own compositions with a variety of ensembles

Wildflower by David Foster

David Foster 1949-

Wildflower
1996
Popular Music

David Foster
Classical Pop
Born: 1 November 1949, Victoria, Canada
Nationality: Canadian

David Foster is a musician, composer, arranger, record producer, and music executive. He chaired Veve Records from 2012—2016. Foster has been nominated for 47 Grammy Awards of which he won 16

Violin Concerto by Benjamin Britten

Benjamin Britten 1913-1976

Violin Concerto
1938-39
Concerto

Benjamin Britten
Opera, Orchestral, Chamber Music
Born: 22 November 1913, Lowestoft, England
Nationality: British
Died: 4 December 1976, Aldeburgh, England

Britten was a composer, conductor, and pianist. A central figure of 20th century British music Britten’s range included opera, vocal music, orchestral, and chamber pieces. He is best known for the opera “Peter Grimes” (1945), the orchestral showpiece “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra” (1945), and the “War Requiem” (1962)

Decadent Days by Hazel O’Conner

Hazel O’Connor

Decadent Days
Album: Sons and Lovers
Date: 1980
Genre: New Wave
Artist: Hazel O’Connor

Hazel O’Connor is a British singer-songwriter and actor. She is best known for the hit singles “Eighth Day” and “Will You.” She also starred in the 1980 film “Breaking Glass”

Here

Here
Form: Cyhydedd Hir

Here, where gods roam free
Nature speaks easy
By the old oak tree
In woodland glade

Here, on the soft ground
Silence hangs around
And a distant sound
Waters cascade

The path leads onward
Taking steps forward
Guiding ways toward
Gossiping foam

Here, where the stream flows
Over smoothed rocks, it goes
Each stepping stone knows
This way is home

©JezzieG2024

Second Hand Reading by William Kentridge

Second Hand Reading
2013
Video Art
Flipbook Film from Drawings on Single Pages of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, HD Video, Colour, Sound

‘Second Hand Reading’ is a short, animated film created from Kentridge’s drawings on the pages of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. As the story unfolds the artist appears as a character wearing his trademark white shirt and black trousers and wandering through the book. The film is accompanied by an emotive soundtrack from the South African musician Neo Muyanga

William Kentridge 1955-

William Kentridge
Video Art, Post-modernism
Born: April 1955, Johannesburg, South Africa
Nationality: South African

Kentridge is an artist best known for his prints, drawings, and animated films. He is especially noted for a sequence of hand-drawn animated films he created in the 1990s, constructed by filming a drawing, making erasures and changes, and filming it again. A single drawing will be changed and filmed this way until the end of a scene and the palimpsest-like drawings displayed along with the film as a finished piece of art

Brother (Word of the Day Challenge)

Inspired by and written for the Word of the Day Challenge, my thanks to Cyranny

Brother

Form: Awdl Gywydd

Through all of life’s ups and downs
He’s shown himself by my side
As that is what best mates do
Me and you take on that ride

Facing those battles and fears
Wiping tears from broken skin
Pulling each other from crud
It’s not blood that makes us kin

©JezzieG2024

Ripening by Wendell Berry

Wendell Berry 1934-

Ripening

The longer we are together
the larger death grows around us.
How many we know by now
who are dead! We, who were young,
now count the cost of having been.
And yet as we know the dead
we grow familiar with the world.
We, who were young and loved each other
ignorantly, now come to know
each other in love, married
by what we have done, as much
as by what we intend. Our hair
turns white with our ripening
as though to fly away in some
coming wind, bearing the seed
of what we know. It was bitter to learn
that we come to death as we come
to love, bitter to face
the just and solving welcome
that death prepares. But that is bitter
only to the ignorant, who pray
it will not happen. Having come
the bitter way to better prayer, we have
the sweetness of ripening. How sweet
to know you by the signs of this world!

Wendell Berry
Born: 5 August 1934, Kentucky, USA
Nationality: American

Berry is a novelist, poet, essayist, cultural critic, environmental activist, and farmer. He is closely identified with rural Kentucky and his attention to the culture and economy of rural communities can be seen in the novels and stories of Port William. An elected member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, Berry is a recipient of the National Humanities Medal

Catching The Butterfly by The Verve

The Verve

Catching The Butterfly
Album: Urban Hymns
Date: 1997
Genre: Alternative/Indie
Artist: The Verve

The Verve were a rock band formed in Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK in 1990 by Richard Ashcroft (vocalist), Nick McCabe (guitarist), Simon Jones (bass), and Peter Salisbury (drummer). Known for their psychedelic, shoegaze sound the band’s commercial breakthrough was the album ‘Urban Hymns’ (1997)

Room de Luxe in the Willow Tearooms by Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Room de Luxe in the Willow Tearooms by Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Room de Luxe in the Willow Tearooms
1903
Interior Design
Wood, glass, textiles

Tearooms were an alternative to working men’s clubs in Glasgow generated by the campaigns of Scotland’s Temperance movement. Catherine Cranston opened several tearooms in Glasgow and all were designed by Mackintosh.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh 1868-1928

Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Art Nouveau, The Vienna Secession, Symbolism
Born: 7 June 1868, Glasgow, Scotland
Nationality: Scottish
Died: 10 December 1928, London, England

Mackintosh was an architect, designer, watercolourist, and artist. His approach and stylistics had much in common with European Symbolism and his work, alongside that of his wife Margaret MacDonald, is considered to have been influential on European design movements such as Art Nouveau and Secessionism. Mackintosh is considered to be among the most influential figures of Modern Style and British Art Nouveau

The Darkest Hour by James Horner

James Horner 1953-2015

The Darkest Hour
2016
Film and TV

James Horner
Film and TV
Born: 14 August 1953, California, USA
Nationality: American
Died: 22 June 2015, California, USA

Horner was a composer of film scores. Over a career of more than 30 years, he worked on 160 film and television productions. Horner won many accolades including two Academy Awards. Horner was also known for integrating choral and electronic elements with traditional orchestrations and for using Celtic musical motifs

Hot Shower (Hobbit Hole Witterings)

Hot Shower
Form: Nine trisyllabic free verse lines

Steam cascades
Over skin
Intricate
Foam massage
Fluid dreams
Embrace lust
Delicate
Moist kisses
Explore heat

©JezzieG2024

Be Proud Be Loud (Be Heard) by Toyah

Toyah

Be Proud Be Loud (Be Heard)
Date: 1982
Genre: New Wave
Artist: Toyah

Toyah is a singer, actor, and TV Presenter. She has had eight top 40 singles, 20 albums, written two books, appeared in 10 feature films 40 stage plays in a career spanning more than 40 years

Sacred Spot

A Garret Poet

Sacred Spot
Form: Nonet

High above like a temple ceiling
The vault of night decked out with stars
I stand where the stream gurgles
Across the midnight breeze
With blades of grass bent
Beneath my feet
It is here
The gods
Speak

©JezzieG2024

Pincushion to Serve as Fetish by Dorothea Tanning

Pincushion to Serve as Fetish by Dorothea Tanning

Pincushion to Serve as Fetish
1965
Sculpture
Velvet, plastic funnel, metal pins, sawdust, and wool
Collection of the Tate, United Kingdom

‘Pincushion to Serve as Fetish’ is an early example of Tanning’s sculptures, A funnel, sawdust, and wool are covered in black velvet and stuck with pins. An open end resembles an orifice whilst the form appears like a strange sea creature.

Dorothea Tanning 1910-2012

Dorothea Tanning
Surrealism, Installation Art, Proto-Feminist Artists, Modern Sculpture
Born: 25 August 1910, Illinois, USA
Nationality: American
Died: 31 January 2012, New York, USA

Tanning was a painter, printmaker, sculptor, writer, and poet. Art pervades much of Tanning’s life; her images, objects, and texts have become worthwhile art and her very presence transformed photographs and moments in time to make them more artistic. The whirlwind energy that followed Tanning as a person is found in her brushstrokes. Tanning’s complete oeuvre is dominated by her unstoppable life force characteristics. Her ideas were too big for rural Illinois so Tanning left for Chicago and then New York. In New York, she found both the style and company that she identified as a Surrealist. She also married Max Ernst. Tanning meticulously depicted her own dreams throughout her long career. This psychological exploration of self continued as her work developed into a more abstract and sculptural

Should We Carry On by David Foster

David Foster 1949-

Should We Carry On
1980
Popular Music

David Foster
Classical Pop
Born: 1 November 1949, Victoria, Canada
Nationality: Canadian

David Foster is a musician, composer, arranger, record producer, and music executive. He chaired Veve Records from 2012—2016. Foster has been nominated for 47 Grammy Awards of which he won 16.

Poetics by Howard Nemerov

Howard Nemerov 1920-1991

Poetics

You know the old story Ann Landers tells
About the housewife in her basement doing the wash?
She’s wearing her nightie, and she thinks, “Well, hell,
I might’s well put this in as well,” and then
Being dripped on by a leaky pipe puts on
Her son’s football helmet; whereupon
The meter reader happens to walk through
and “Lady,” he gravely says, “I sure hope your team wins.”

A story many times told in many ways,
The set of random accidents redeemed
By one more accident, as though chaos
Were the order that was before the creation came.
That is the way things happen in the world:
A joke, a disappointment satisfied,
As we walk through doing our daily round,
Reading the meter, making things add up

Howard Nemerov
Born: 1 March 1920, New York, USA
Nationality: American
Died: 5 July 1991, Missouri, USA

Nemerov was a poet. He was twice Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, (1963-1964 and 1988-1990). Nemerov won the National Book Award for Poetry, the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and the Bollingen Prize for his ‘The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov’ (1977)

A Year in the Life – Day 128

Day 128
Prompt: If your life was a book, what is the title of the current chapter?

Hi Nigel

‘Hiya! I think it will have to be a fun answer to this one’

Why is that?

‘’Oh, Bollocks!’ just isn’t a good starting point, is it?’

Uh-oh, what’s the matter?

‘It’s only 6am and already the day is going wrong’

We all have days when simply getting out of bed is a disaster, mate.

‘Should we just go back to bed on those days?’

Yeah, but you can guarantee it is a day when you have got to do something so can’t get back in bed

‘So even if that goes wrong, that just sucks’

The chances are the day will get better

‘Or it will get even worse’

You really have got the blues, haven’t you?

‘I just feel like I have been taken for a twat again’

Ahh, the date didn’t work out

‘That’s putting it mildly’

That bad

‘How am I supposed to get to know a person if they are fiddling with their phone instead of talking?’

Honestly, mate, I think that tells you what you need to know about him.

‘Yeah, he’s an ignorant ass’

And be honest with yourself, do you want to develop a relationship with someone like that?

‘Hell, no’

Then it may have been a bad date, but it was a useful one

‘Yeah, and I’m on my own again’

I know it hurts, mate, but better that than with the wrong person

‘I know. Knowing it doesn’t make you feel better about it though’

No, indeed it doesn’t

‘Will I ever find it?’

What, love?

‘Yeah’

Of course, you will, but I can’t tell you when

‘Meanwhile, I’ll have another cup of coffee and a bit more fruit cake’

Help yourself, you know that

‘I have thought of a better title for the chapter’

Okay, what is it?

‘There’s Always Coffee’

That works. See you tomorrow, Nige

©JezzieG2024

Twisted (Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge)

Inspired by and written for the Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge, my thanks to Sue and Gerry

Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge – Twisted

Form: Cyhydedd Fer

From light to dark my thoughts can turn
And so entwined I feel me burn

Sacrificed for evil delight
I fear it’s now forever night

Yet black coldness I feel the rage
My thinkings have become my cage

In surrender, I have no doubt
Inner demons fighting it out

In their battle, I may be lost
That has always been thinking’s cost

I do not cry and wear no frown
As Bipolar spirals drag down

I want to burn my own desire
How do I set my soul on fire?

©JezzieG2024

Offbeat (Ragtag Daily Prompt)

Inspired by and written for the Ragtag Daily Prompt, my thanks to Sgeoil

RDP Monday: OFFBEAT

Form: Awdl Gywydd

Monday morning out of sync
Poet’s ink has lost its way
No rhythm sounds to his words
Absurd, it’s always Monday

It takes the day to work out
Turnabout to rhythmic chat
So it goes line upon line
It’ll be fine for all of that

So I’ll simply keep at it
And bit by bit I’ll revoke
This old Monday and its thing
To sing poet cannot choke

©JezzieG2024

On Fields O’er Which the Reaper’s Hand has Passed by Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau 1817-1862

On Fields O’er Which the Reaper’s Hand has Passed

On fields o’er which the reaper’s hand has pass’d
Lit by the harvest moon and autumn sun,
My thoughts like stubble floating in the wind
And of such fineness as October airs,
There after harvest could I glean my life
A richer harvest reaping without toil,
And weaving gorgeous fancies at my will
In subtler webs than finest summer haze.

Henry David Thoreau
Born: 12 July 1817, Massachusetts, USA
Nationality: American
Died: 6 May 1862, Massachusetts, USA

Thoreau was a naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist he is known for his book “Waldon,” a work that reflects on simple living in natural surroundings

Jealous Guy by Roxy Music

Roxy Music

Jealous Guy
Date: 1981
Genre: Rock
Artist: Roxy Music

Roxy Music are an English rock and formed in 1971 by Bryan Ferry (vocalist and songwriter)’ and Graham Simpson (bassist). Joined by Andy Mackay (saxophonist and oboist), Phil Manzanera (guitarist), Paul Thompson (drummer), and Brian Eno (synthesizer player) Roxy Music recorded their first album in 1972. The band has split and reunited intermittently since 2001, most recently in 2022 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their first album

Martha Graham by Imogen Cunningham

Martha Graham by Imogen Cunningham

Martha Graham
1931
Photography
Gelatin silver print

During the 1930s and 1940s, Cunningham photographed some of Hollywood’s and the art world’s most beloved names, including a series of the dancer Martha Graham. In this photograph, Graham is shot from the neck up with her palms on her face and elbows jutting out. Graham is silhouetted against an inky background and the lighting seems to tilt upward from the right highlighting the dancer’s hands

Imogen Cunningham 1883-1976

Imogen Cunningham
Pictorialism, Straight Photography, Group f/64
Born: 12 April 1883, Oregon, USA
Nationality: American
Died: 23. June 1976, California, USA

Cunningham was a photographer known for her botanical photography, nudes, and industrial landscapes. She was a member of Group f/64 dedicated to sharp-focus renditions of simple subjects

Roundball Rock by John Tesh

John Tesh 1952-

Roundball Rock
1990
Film and TV

John Tesh
New Age, Jazz, Popular Music
Born: 9 July 1952, New York, USA
Nationality: American

Tesh is a pianist, composer, radio host, and TV presenter. He composed the NBA basketball theme for NBC

Cabinet (Weekend Writing Prompt)

Inspired by and written for the Weekend Writing Prompt, my thanks to Sammi

Form: Free Verse

Behind antique glass
Tinted by time
Reside her precious collections
Personal history remembered
In bric-a-brac mementoes
And faded postcards
And she remembers
Behind her fading eyes
Of days before the war
When holding his hand
Walking out
Love conquered her heart

Word count: 42

©JezzieG2024

Aurora (Ragtag Daily Prompt)

Inspired by and written for the Ragtag Daily Prompt, my thanks to Dr Kottaway

RDP Sunday: aurora

Form: Awdl Gywydd

While watching the stars last night
My delight to see you there
In silence I watched you dance
Perchance memories to share

Rare to see your light shine here
So near the glorious shows
Held closer in nature’s whim
A glimmering of night glows

©JezzieG2024

Dancing Silk

Dancing Silk
Form: Triplets

All dressed in silk as I watch her dance
I think how sweetly flows our romance
With each graceful move, she can entrance

And the silk follows where she goes
Hypnotic and liquid as it flows
And methinks my eyes see through her clothes

My glance casts down now my heart is coy
Yet my soul awakes to her sweet joy
This shyness, making a man a boy

But again I look up so I can see
Her vibrations that move wild and free
O how my dancer has taken me

©JezzieG2024

I Found Someone by Cher

Cher

I Found Someone
Album: Cher
Date: 1987
Genre: Rock
Artist: Cher

Cher is a singer, actress, and television personality. Referred to by the media as the ‘Goddess of Pop’ she has been described as embodying female autonomy in the male-dominated music industry. With her distinctive contralto voice, Cher has adopted a variety of styles and appearances

Le Faux Rire by Asger Jorn

Le Faux Rire by Asger Jorn

Le Faux Rire
1954
Abstract
Oil on canvas
CoBrA Museum of Modern Art, Amstelveen, Netherlands

‘Le Faux Rire’ represents laughter with an abstract, multi-coloured, two-faced figure shown in an awkward semi-reclined position. Above a figure a smiling yellow-orange face hovers. The image suggests a state of emotion that is highly complex.

Asger Jorn 1914-1973

Asger Jorn
Art Informel, Art Brut and Outsider Art, Neo-Dada, CoBrA Group, Situationist International
Born: 3 March 1914, Jutland, Denmark
Nationality: Danish
Died: 1 May 1973, Aarhus, Denmark

Jorn was a painter, sculptor, ceramic artist, and author. A founding member of COBRA and the Situationist International the largest collection of his work, including Stalingrad, is housed by the Museum Jorn, Silkeborg, Denmark