Well, I've said it several times this month, but again, you completely forget the song titles are there with this one and it just becomes a piece of art in its own right... 😎
Wonderful compliment! Thank you. You articulate well an aesthetic issue with the exercise, which is the need to transcend the in-built limitation of using song-titles as they are. It's a spur and a challenge, like any limitation. So glad this one worked for you.
That's absolutely right. That's exactly what can make these really special: when you can find a way to fit everything together that elevates it beyond just being an arrangement of song titles, to become something more, where the song titles have essentially vanished, or blurred into the background. Then it's seamless, you can't see the joins, and it's pure magic... 😎
Oh damn - I think I like this one even more! The shifts between the images works really beautifully. It cuts, but isn't choppy, and there is a lot of suggestive power between the parts. Really love this one. :-)
So I chose Kanye West today - old Kanye (and I'd like to stress the "old" there, for obvious reasons) was a big influence on me, especially in both music and poetry. I want the old Kanye back, darn it. The one who opened up on MTV and talked about homophobia in hip-hop, and that while he had participated in that part of the culture, he was committed to never doing that way again. What a great moment. Miss you old Kanye!
Hehe - nice :-) Yeah, he's still there in the music sometimes. And of course, it's all him. And y'know, people gotta people. I hope he figures it out, and can feel a bit more at peace so he doesn't have to lash out at people.
I really love what you've done with the song titles, even though I have a slight aversion to Kanye, kind like Writer Pilgrim has to the U guy (no names, please!)
Thanks so much Darienne :-) I really appreciate it. I really like how visual this one has ended up being, as all the comments mentioned the images being visually strong.
May 23·edited May 23Liked by Writer Pilgrim by So Elite
WINGS
Sitting outside a CAFE ON THE LEFT BANK of The Thames, in the centre of LONDON TOWN, I saw a SINGLE PIGEON fly down and sit on the chair beside me. Almost close enough to touch. It nodded several times, as if to say, "HI, HI, HI", and I nodded back, with tears already starting to roll down my cheeks.
Because just six months ago, I had sat at this table with my GIRLFRIEND, and we'd fed the birds together. It was the day she told me about her condition, shortly before TRAGEDY struck.
She sat in that same chair and said when love is real, there is always a TOMORROW. She truly believed that even though we were LETTING GO of each other for now, we were destined to meet again. And then AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN. And when she spoke, she made everything sound so WARM AND BEAUTIFUL.
But we needed NO WORDS today.
It was all there in that little grey bird's eyes.
I knew MY LOVE had found a way to come back to me... 😎
What a line Chris "It was all there in that little grey bird's eyes." You broke my heart reading this today. Layered, difficult read... Not sure if you thought of the theme linked to the Wings as a band and as a symbol. Power!
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Yes, that's what struck me straight away, when I decided to do Wings. It conjures those images of angels, and birds, who are often associated with carrying souls or embodying spirits. So it all fitted the theme really nicely. It was also inspired in part, of course, by your lovely poem about the Robin. I put the bit about the nodding as a little reference to that... 😎
Haha! Well, we're getting towards the end of the Challenge now, so I suppose this was a sort of metaphorical 'slow dance' before the nightclub closes! I'm glad you enjoyed it... 😎
Lots of whiskey and guns today for W. This reads like a saloon in the wild west with Clint Eastwood and his broken heart as a co-star. I love the first line and the last reiterates the whole poem. Wonderful!
Wouldn’t wanna put you between a rock and a hard place! You did well! I think we need to find out how to do it ourselves! As the rest of us post a link to show pagination as it needs to be.
Wham
Blue
Different Corner
Where did your heart go?
The Edge of Heaven
If you were there
Wake me up before you go-go
Come on! Careless Whisper
Everything she wants
Bad Boys
Freedom
A ray of sunshine
Everything she wants
If you're gonna do it, do it right - right?
I'll make you rich, I'll make you poor! Hhahahahahaha
I can just imagine reading this in the 'Club Tropicana'! Haha. Lovely... 😎
Have you seen the video by Lewis Capaldi?
I have seen that, yes. So funny. It's actually a really lovely tribute, too, and mirrors the original pretty much shot for shot... 😎
I loved Wham and Wham Bars. Nostalgia hits strong with this one.
Problem is I love WHAM still! hahahaha
Wham bars?
Wham Bar is a thin raspberry flavour strip of chew, sprinkled with crunchy, coloured sherbet.
Haha! Wham Bar, yes! And the Irn-Bru Bar! I haven't seen those for years... 😎
Wouldn't risk them with the mouth full of fillings I have now!
Are they still around? The bars…
Yes, fillings and crowns for me. I definitely wouldn't risk eating one of these now, either! Haha... 😎
Don’t remember seeing these.
looking for the heart of Saturday night
(Tom Waits song title poem)
---------------------------------
way down the hole
drunk on the Moon
(looking for) the heart of Saturday night
-
downtown train
red shoes by the drugstore
Ruby’s arms
-
Heartattack and Vine
watch her disappear
-
downtown train
anywhere I lay my head
I’ll take New York
-
God’s away on business
just another sucker on the Vine
-
downtown train
how’s it gonna end
a sweet little bullet from a pretty blue gun
-
I’m still here
way down the hole
(looking for) the heart of Saturday night
-
hang on, St. Christopher
chocolate Jesus
make it rain
Man of aran, this is another masterpiece from you on the song poems! Thank you!
Ah, you're too kind. I've really enjoyed doing these.
Clap Hands!
Perfect! Thank you, Fotini.
Chocolate Jesus make it rain. Amen to that!
Agree fully!
Very nice - love that opening stanza! Great choice too. I'd forgotten Waits altogether. :-)
I’m ashamed to say, so did I. I only had eyes for Wham today! But you brought Kanye so am very glad you momentarily forgot about Waits.
Thanks! I waited more than 3 weeks just for the W.
Hehe! Well, it was worth the wait. :-)
you nailed it
Appreciate it, Jonathan!
Love this, and Tom Waits!
Thanks, Darienne. He's in my top 5!
Beautiful💖
Well, I've said it several times this month, but again, you completely forget the song titles are there with this one and it just becomes a piece of art in its own right... 😎
Wonderful compliment! Thank you. You articulate well an aesthetic issue with the exercise, which is the need to transcend the in-built limitation of using song-titles as they are. It's a spur and a challenge, like any limitation. So glad this one worked for you.
That's absolutely right. That's exactly what can make these really special: when you can find a way to fit everything together that elevates it beyond just being an arrangement of song titles, to become something more, where the song titles have essentially vanished, or blurred into the background. Then it's seamless, you can't see the joins, and it's pure magic... 😎
Tom Waits
.
Jersey Girl
.
A sweet little bullet from a pretty blue gun
Whistlin’ past the graveyard—
Watch her disappear in the neighborhood.
.
Lonely trampled rose on a foggy night
Dead and lovely Rosie.
.
:(((( you're ripping our hearts out. Love this, love Tom Waits.
Despite appearances, I am a happy person. Really!
I never said the opposite! :)))
Another tanka-style poem! Really good. Those opening lines - whew! What a stanza.
Tom has a way with words (and music)!
and delivery!
ah, great minds! but so sad. It's hard to extract hope and joy from Mr. Tom. Nice arrangement.
If you listen to the voice instead of the words… maybe.
Actually, you can... I wrote a little something that feels nothing sort of his but since you mentioned it I will include it here
.
The One That Got Away
.
Goin’ out west
’Til the money runs out
.
Whistle down the wind
Let me get up on it
I’ll shoot the moon
.
Blow wind blow
.
This is wonderful Fotini!
Thanks!!!
Oh damn - I think I like this one even more! The shifts between the images works really beautifully. It cuts, but isn't choppy, and there is a lot of suggestive power between the parts. Really love this one. :-)
🙏 🙏 🙏
Wow. That is a superb poem... 😎
Thank you, Chris!!!
perfect!
Thank you, Jonathan 🙏
Tom Waits waist deep in twisted melancholy. You captured it all here.
Hard not to...
Love this!
So I chose Kanye West today - old Kanye (and I'd like to stress the "old" there, for obvious reasons) was a big influence on me, especially in both music and poetry. I want the old Kanye back, darn it. The one who opened up on MTV and talked about homophobia in hip-hop, and that while he had participated in that part of the culture, he was committed to never doing that way again. What a great moment. Miss you old Kanye!
.
I.
.
City of gods—
.
Water,
Come to life!
.
Waves,
Touch the sky!
.
River
Talking back to me—
.
“We can make it better,
Say you will.”
.
.
II.
.
Coldest winter—
.
Moon
Tell the vision,
.
Stars,
Up from the ashes:
.
Flowers
Burn.
.
.
III.
.
No church in the wild—
.
Every hour,
.
Wolves
Reborn.
.
.
.
Oooh, am sensing the pain here in the intro… maybe if you scratch on the surface of all you read you’ll find out the real Kanye, Ye is still there.
Hehe - nice :-) Yeah, he's still there in the music sometimes. And of course, it's all him. And y'know, people gotta people. I hope he figures it out, and can feel a bit more at peace so he doesn't have to lash out at people.
And what a great poem, every line magical and very visual. Thank you for this!
💜
I really love what you've done with the song titles, even though I have a slight aversion to Kanye, kind like Writer Pilgrim has to the U guy (no names, please!)
You stop it! Don’t get me started! Lol! It’s the energy, the spirit, the feeling. Gut feeling says nope!
I wanna know so bad who it is!!!!!! 😂
Just put 2 together!
🧐
😂 😂 😂
Someone's not reading comments Fotini... hahahahahaha and I don't know if anyone saw the grand post yesterday with the Unameable.
Thanks so much :-) I can understand the aversion 100%. Dam - wish I knew who the "U" was now! Haha.
I could see it all! Wow! 💖
Thanks so much Darienne :-) I really appreciate it. I really like how visual this one has ended up being, as all the comments mentioned the images being visually strong.
Well said and well done
Thanks Jonathan - much appreciated. :-)
WINGS
Sitting outside a CAFE ON THE LEFT BANK of The Thames, in the centre of LONDON TOWN, I saw a SINGLE PIGEON fly down and sit on the chair beside me. Almost close enough to touch. It nodded several times, as if to say, "HI, HI, HI", and I nodded back, with tears already starting to roll down my cheeks.
Because just six months ago, I had sat at this table with my GIRLFRIEND, and we'd fed the birds together. It was the day she told me about her condition, shortly before TRAGEDY struck.
She sat in that same chair and said when love is real, there is always a TOMORROW. She truly believed that even though we were LETTING GO of each other for now, we were destined to meet again. And then AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN. And when she spoke, she made everything sound so WARM AND BEAUTIFUL.
But we needed NO WORDS today.
It was all there in that little grey bird's eyes.
I knew MY LOVE had found a way to come back to me... 😎
What a line Chris "It was all there in that little grey bird's eyes." You broke my heart reading this today. Layered, difficult read... Not sure if you thought of the theme linked to the Wings as a band and as a symbol. Power!
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Yes, that's what struck me straight away, when I decided to do Wings. It conjures those images of angels, and birds, who are often associated with carrying souls or embodying spirits. So it all fitted the theme really nicely. It was also inspired in part, of course, by your lovely poem about the Robin. I put the bit about the nodding as a little reference to that... 😎
Aw thank you. The Little Robin one!
Pigeon reincarnated love. You're a big softie at heart.
Haha! Well, we're getting towards the end of the Challenge now, so I suppose this was a sort of metaphorical 'slow dance' before the nightclub closes! I'm glad you enjoyed it... 😎
Feeling sentimental today, Chris?
Haha! The song titles just brought it out of me, I guess. It's all Macca's fault! 😎
THE WATERBOYS
.
The Pan Within
.
Some of my best friends are trains,
ribbon of steel upon the wind and waves.
Silent fellowship, something that is gone.
The faery's last song preparing to fly.
Where are you now when I need you?
Song from the end of the world.
Somebody might wave back.
To keen on this one, love the story you’re telling. Reminds me of kids waving at trains and cars and busses passing by.
My kids love waving at deliveroo drivers. They don't wave back.
They barely have time to do what they need…. what’s the state of their pay I wonder?
Not enough pay to be risking their lives in Dublin city traffic!
I am waving back! Waterboys yay!
Waving back too, especially as we're nearing our last train stop :(
A bang on the ear - what you made out of these songs, Treasa! Love it!
Thanks. Forgot to attach tune, 'how long will I love you' it was our first dance wedding song.
Oh, sweet memories!!!
The Waterboys! Yes! 'The Whole of the Moon'! Haven't thought about them for a long time. This is a great one for W... 😎
Thanks Chris
Oof - missed this yesterday. So glad I came back for another read. Really great work!
Aaaaand a bonus poem, for The Weekend :-)
.
-: ode to the heartless :-
.
alone again,
.
every angel
is terrifying—
.
out of time,
.
the hill's
true colours:
.
faith
.
.
.
We love the extra poems! Thank you for sending them through. What a finish!
It seems, the second ones today are more powerful ⚡ ⚡ ⚡
W is for Whitesnake
Here I go again
Blindman
Love for sale
Crying in the rain
Ain’t no love in the heart of the city
Gambler
Heart of Stone
Give me more time
Walking in the shadow of the blues
Mistreated
Too many lies
Gulity of love
Ain’t gonna cry no more
Outlaw
Till the day I die
Soldier of fortune
Love will set you free
Forevermore
Sands of time
Steal away
Can you hear the wind blow
This is lovely. Forgotten about Whitesnake.
"Outlaw
Till the day I die"
what a combo putting this two together.
Thank you!
Who would have thought that Whitesnake could express such feelings... I couldn't for sure, but you mastered this Darienne!
Thanks Fontini! It’s Whitesnake but not as we know them!
Willie Dixon
Crazy Mixed Up World
Insane Asylum
The Same Thing
Weak Brain, Narrow Mind
Study War No More
Don't Go No Further
It Don't Make Sense
Dead Presidents
What in the World You Goin' To Do
When the Lights Go Out
Too Late
Too Many Cooks
It's All Over Now
So Long
Evil (Is Going On)
Oh wow Gordon! The state of the world in a poem! Welcome back!
This is great, Gordon!
Whiskeytown
----
Excuse me while I break my own heart tonight
dancing with the women at the bar,
waiting to derail,
too drunk to dream.
Take your guns to town,
Captain Smith,
the rain won’t help you when it’s over,
pawn shop ain’t no place for a wedding ring.
----
Somebody remembers the rose,
black arrow, bleeding heart,
16 days,
yesterday’s news,
reasons to lie,
don’t wanna know why.
----
Lots of whiskey and guns today for W. This reads like a saloon in the wild west with Clint Eastwood and his broken heart as a co-star. I love the first line and the last reiterates the whole poem. Wonderful!
Thanks, WP. Whiskeytown was an early project of the great and sometimes troubled songwriter Ryan Adams.
That opening is sublime. Fantastic work... 😎
Thanks, Chris -- it's a great song too
With or Without You
May 23-letter W-U2 song title
If only I could have unraveled you,
whispered farewell
with a glass
in hand,
words
flowing
like
wine.
I would have spoken my desires,
wept you a river,
had I known it was the last taste of you.
With or without you,
I am fractured wood,
loath to feel the lick of flames again,
the searing caress
on my skin.
No more kisses to brand my lips,
no other name like cinders
on my tongue.
I'd sooner surrender to a stranger's embrace,
let the days begin
and end
in shadow,
than risk love's light once more.
No.
When first we met,
I never imagined I would fall this way,
find myself bare
and exposed
in your arms,
yearning to deny the truth of your absence.
But the world spins madly on,
and I am left motionless.
I refuse this ache,
unless it's your touch unmaking me.
I will not waste a moment,
nor offer another the softest parts of me.
I choose to wait,
forever on the edge,
than to let go.
Come back
to me.
If only I could have said goodbye,
my heart an open wound,
I would have wept you a tempest,
had I known it was the end.
I would have shattered myself,
to keep a fragment
of you.
@Writer Pilgrim by So Elite
@Gloria Horton-Young
Wonderful piece Gloria! Defiance yet again! Love the poetry and the layout! How did you get the pagination on here?
My wife is among many other things, a graphic artist, so I use her software programs to format my poems in unique styles.
Thank you that explains it!
Don’t tell her! LOL. She would KILL me if I fu**ed it up. And, that’s a clear and present danger.
Wouldn’t wanna put you between a rock and a hard place! You did well! I think we need to find out how to do it ourselves! As the rest of us post a link to show pagination as it needs to be.
Well I've told you this before, but your work is always so elegantly written. Such beautiful phrasing. This is really wonderful... 😎
Thank you, Chris. I appreciate that.
Amazing! Love so many lines here.