song credits (to us)

 

we're blending the lyrics & notes

to strum of guitar riffs

you drunk-sway as goldfish in fish-

bowl

i play the piano (off)key

as soaked flowers  

by summer rain

our faces are blue

with sweet refrains & kisses

bravely, we watermark the album 

with our names

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Quadrille:  Pouring Out Our Poems - Hosted by De Jackson.  This is a 44 word post with the chosen word - water.  Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.

green green grass of home (a remembrance)

 

her eyes are cloudy grey

her body 

pinked by sugar & vermillion summers 

slumps to searing pain

the sadness

from missing his presence for the last year, 

hurt her deeply

(soon)

she'll hear swooning music

of his laughter

impersonating TomJones luscious baritone 

rising

calling

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Quadrille, with host Linda Lyberg.  This is a 44 word post with the chosen word, Music.  Rest in Peace to my aunt (and uncle), whose favorite singer was Tom Jones.  Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.  

the bassist

 

unfinished music sheets & riffs

untied laces on messy floor 

unhurried words, disconnected  

unguarded, you could have fooled me

music is your pill, oxygen 

muffling all the suttered sadness

muscles uncoil, your fingers fly

mutiny of blues & fire storm

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Using the head rhymes in the Traditional Mongolian Meter.   Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm

Smooth Operator

 

i want slow dancing

starbursting in my chest

& filaments of delicate lacework

latching on my ribs

{swoon}

the night spell is mad timbre

of iridescent specks of dotted lights

smooth as ripe velvet plums

swaying  

                earthly swells

wine color 

                 drumbeats

& taste of wild 

                        crooning clarinet

pour red, 

     (bubbles of rose champagne)

all over my saxophone

     splashing purple & violet hues

my piano fingers are fire-

crackers

              all over you

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - MTB - Synesthesia in music.   Sade is one of my favorite singer - classy with that distinct sexy voice.    Please join us when the pub doors open at 3pm.  Thanks for the visit.

jellybeans with jazz

it starts breezy
your fingers slick, tingling
on guitar strings
murmur of leaves, falling  


then sharp stab
slurping my skin, milk-moon 
soft, honey-gold
& buttering my eyes
fringe of blue clouds


slam, slam, pour, pour
your ferocious heartbeats-
turn us to mindless waves
ride in - music -


we swish, rolling rhythm
pedals churning-
gathering us to heaven
gates, let's implode (again)-






Posted for dVerse poets Pub -  Jazz poetry with a lovely guest blogger, Amaya.  Come and join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.  Thanks for the visit ~ 

Sevenling: Music

summer sun dappled over the bowl of pears, 
while champagne glasses begged to be filled with laughter, 
as his fingers flew over piano keys - crescendo, sharp, diminuendo-

she didn't believed in palm reading (including tarot cards),   
destiny carved by family genes (even if they are colorful),
nor travelling alone (she loves noisy company)- 

but when his heart gave way, suddenly, music bubbled flat

Paining by Claudia Schonfeld, used with permission

Posted for D'verse Poets Pub - 5th anniversary celebration.   Please check out Claudia's interview and our poetry prompt is sevenling poem about music.   

My poem is based on my high school classmate's hubby who suddenly died of his first heart attack this past week.   It was traumatic as it was unexpected.

Thanks for joining us at our week long anniversary celebration (July 18-22).   

Chasing a song while walking the trails

Hamilton, Canada

Let's chase the sun
Across the valleys and plains
Out to where the sky is so blue

Take leave of your stuff
We'll travel light as birds
Marveling each new season
With a lilt and swooping wings

Let's chase the sun
Across the rivers and caves
Out to where sands are so pink

See the clouds whirling fast
Over apples trees and wheat fields
Chasing dragonflies, we put   
colorful marks along the way 

Let's chase the sun
Across the valleys and plains
Out to where the sky is so blue

Only when you see 
the school of fish, tarry
the murder of crows, pause
a siege of herons, stop

Otherwise, let's chase the sun
Across the valleys and plains
Out to where the sky is so blue


Posted for D'verse Poets Pub - Poetics, The Music in You, hosted by Mish ~   Attempting a "singable" poem ~

Piano Festival

It was held in the 19^th century church in the upscale neighborhood. A medium sized church with a black grand piano up the small stage, was the center piece of the festival.   When we first signed up for this competition, I imagined a more festive atmosphere, not the somber and stiff columns at the sides of the church.   The ominous mood silenced the gay chatter of young children and teens testing their piano skills in the competition.

A charming lady adjudicator smoothly presided over  each one hour session for 10 candidates.   This is my 13 year old daughter 3^rd piano recital, and she calmly sits in the front pew, the 9^th    candidate in the Grade 3 skill level.    She has grown over the last months, and  she towers amongst the candidates, specially boys still in their pre-teen stage.   She has practiced, like all the children, the same piece for the last month or two, under the eye of her piano teacher.

The first boy was called to play, and he was impressive and confident from the initial strains of the piece.   My daughter would later tell me, she knew her chance of winning the first spot was not so good compared to the first boy.  He has set the bar very high.

The second boy was called to play, and unlike the other candidates, he held on to his music book.   He adjusted his thick rimmed glasses, and within the next seconds, we knew he was struggling with the piece.   But he never glanced at the audience composed only of parents and or guardians.   He labored with each key, as one would every tortured breath, going back a few notes if he missed it, slowly and painstakingly until he finished the piece.   No one said anything and I noticed the adjudicator not taking notes as she would normally as she gives a detailed critique at the end of the session.   She was listening, as was everyone, to every note like it was an angel playing to the golden crowns of the saints and wooden cross in the altar.

What took the 2^nd boy so long to play, the third candidate finished the piece in no time.  So did all the other candidates as was expected in this festival.   Smooth and perfect notes.    At least from the audience point of view.  If we could, we would probably give a gold medal for all the children, specially the 2nd boy, for getting up there and completing the piece. 

My daughter’s performance was good but not good enough to win any medals.  Nothing like a contest to spur her competitive spirit and hunger for recognition outside the family.   She would get 2^nd place the week after for another round of competition, but not this time.   We always tell her to do her best, and leave it to her to set her level and pace.     


We just want her to have a good time with the festival. I don't lecture to her on what she needs to do.   She saw the tremendous effort displayed by the 2nd boy, a special child.    No pressure, no monetary reward from us.    Except for fish and chips meal after the festival.

Written for Imperfect Prose.   This is my first time to join you ~   Nice to meet you ~

You can do better than that

You realize how important or talented you are, when someone who has been working and guiding you, tells you straight in the face,

"You can do better than that."

These words were not uttered to me but to my 12 year old daughter from her piano teacher.   She has been teaching piano to my daughter for the last 3 years and is instrumental to my child's development.   I can understand the teacher's frustration with her as 45 minutes of guidance a week is not enough to maximize my daughter's talent.     She needed to practice 30 minutes in the piano every day, because daily regimen is part of the discipline.   My daughter is lazy to play the piano everyday as playing outside or chatting with her friends are more fun.   No amount of my nagging her to practice worked.  If she really wants this, it has to come from within her, and not because of us.

As a matter of fact, my nagging to my husband to quit smoking didn't work too.  But he quit smoking, cold turkey 2 months ago.   The reason - it was getting expensive to maintain it.   When he calculated how much he was spending (the taxes in Canada are really high) on the cancer sticks, he decided he will quit.   Given the tight budget that we have, it made sense not to waste our money on this item.  He quit because he wanted to.

My husband talked to my daughter about the necessity of playing the piano on a regular basis like after coming home from school.   He said that she is very talented and has a gift which no one in our family has.   He was very forthright with her:  to not use or waste the talent is like throwing away a gift someone has given you during your birthday party.   That if she really believes that she has the talent, then by all means use all the opportunity and time to hone it and develop it 100x times.  If your teacher believes in you, then believe in yourself.

"You are better than this. "

My daughter kept quiet for while and told us, "I am going to practice everyday now."  I want to believe that because she wants to,  she will do it.

Has there been someone in your life who believed in you and what you can be?

Picture credit:   http://musicalmelody.tumblr.com/

Jon Bon Jovi: Love is a bed of roses

With divorces and separations common among celebrity couples, it is heartwarming to witness one enduring marriage in Hollywood - Jon Bon Jovi and his wife,  Dorothea Hurley.

Dorothea Hurley and Jon Bon Jovi have one of the most solid marriages in Hollywood.   They will be celebrating their 22nd wedding anniversary this coming April 28. They have four kids together (Stephanie, 18, Jesse James, 18, Jacob, 9, and Romeo, 7.)

Dorothea and Jon have been dating since High School.  Once, she and the rocker broke up, but he started to missing his sweetheart and went back,  begging her to take him back. During the New Jersey Tour, Dorothea and Jon went to Las Vegas and got married -April 28, 1989. It was a spur-of-the-moment ceremony at the Graceland Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Here is a fan video of an interview of Jon Bon Jovi.   What struck me was what he said at 5:10 of the video, "I don't like change.....".

Some other interviews by Jon Bon Jovi:


Certainly Dorothea appears to be made of impressive stuff, "I wouldn't trade her in for anything," he says fondly.


"The fact that she's independent and isn't needy or possessive helps and she is just a very strong woman (being a karate instructor can't harm).

"I've been cognisant of the fact that relationships have been breaking up around us, but it hasn't made me cling to her or the other way round.

"And although everyone says we're about the only couple still together in the rock business, it's not really true.  There's Bono and his wife Ali and Bruce (Springsteen) and Patti. We're not the only ones."

So there will be no trading his wife in for a younger model, as is a rock star's wont?

"No. I find that women are much sexier when they age gracefully. I want to see them in cowboy boots and blue jeans and not with so much liposuction that they can't even close their eyes.

"You see women with it everywhere in Hollywood and, urgh..." he grimaces, leaving the sentiment unarticulated yet completely understood."

In the 2002 interview:   Rocker Jon Bon Jovie says  his 13-year marriage has survived touring,  groupies,  and fame because his wife Dorothea keeps him grounded.   "She's been there for me for the ups and the downs. She was there for me before there was an up," adds Bon Jovi.   "She's the muse for all the syrupy ballads I write."

Cheers to you both!!!!