When you look at the sky, what thoughts go through your mind and what feelings do you experience? Could you put words to any of this, or not really? In many respects the sky is nebulous, which implies that it can be described in a multiple of different ways.
And the imagination…
Maybe try this as an exercise:
Go to the sky
Close your eyes momentarily
Open them and write down the first thing that comes to mind
Many years ago on my walks around a large office complex, I felt drawn to look out the windows at the sky. I cannot necessarily put it into words, but it did me good; her other worldliness, her perceivable yet unperceivable character, her secrets and mysteries, her colour spectrum…
In my first poem about the sky, I use a mono-rhythmic tercet scheme:
‘The Sky, The Sky
The sky, the sky in all its many shades of blue
Spectacled scientists tell us it has to be this hue
Approximately eighteen months ago I was checking my emails whilst listening to the radio. One email was from the Globe Theatre in London and I happened to be looking through their linked, online catalogue. The radio station was BBC’s Radio 3 and a musician was talking about their preferred recording of a Wagner composition.
At that time, I had been a Wagner enthusiast for a few years – even seeing part of one of his compositions at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall… A thought occurred to me…: “What would it be like to hear the whole piece performed by German musicians and singers…?”
The CDs
Anyway, back to the ‘lightbulb’ moment. As I was looking through said catalogue and deciding how to use my discount code, floating over the airwaves came Wagner’s ‘Ring Cycle’. And, almost simultaneously (I think), my eyes landed on the theatre’s ‘Shakespeare Dictionary’. 💡 How about combining the two? This could be a world first: The Ring Cycle written in Shakespearean language!
Anachronisms
On New Year’s Day, 1st January 2022, I officially started the research. I was excited and looking forward to penning the ‘Shakespearean Ring’. I had a couple of German to English translations — good… Simply use the Shakespearean lexicon, etcetera, instead of contemporary English — and everyone will understand… But will they…? Where’s my red marker!
Exeunt The Bard and his contemporaries
Stabreim v Couplet
Wagner’s ‘Ring’ (or ‘The Ring of the Nibelung’ to give you its full title) is a seventeen hour opera. He, himself, sourced various versions of the epic poem, writing and re-writing the text in stabreim. He also composed the music.
Definition of Stabreim: (Ger.). A versification style based on alliteration, common in German and other north European poetry of the early Middle Ages. It was adopted by Wagner when writing his own librettos …
Part 1: The Rhinegold
From left to right by nature’s design
Flows continuously the ready River Rhine
Lighter turquoise evenly spread
Becoming darker towards the bed
Near the floor the water dissipates
Leaving an increasingly breathable state
This vaporific man-sized space
Moves continuously and at apace
Across the floor of the riverbed
Where no man can naturally tread
Are rough rocks and undercurrent tides
And vertical caverns unimaginably wild…
I went to the National Poetry Library in London earlier this year. I was on a mission: to find out which magazines published similar poetry to mine. For the next two hours I looked at everything that was available. All, bar one, had absolutely no poems about music — not even remotely! In my first poetry book ‘Soaring Higher’ (see ‘books’ page) there are six full length poems with such tasty flavours!
This poem is about a musician — and no ordinary musician at that — but a Virtuoso. “But what is a Virtuoso?” I hear you cry. According to Grove Music Online:
“Virtuoso ( It., from Lat. virtus : ‘excellence’, ‘worth’ ) A person of notable accomplishment; a musician of extraordinary technical skill. In its original Italian usage (particularly in the 16th and 17th centuries) ‘virtuoso’ was a term of honour reserved for a person distinguished in any intellectual or artistic field: a poet, architect, scholar etc. A virtuoso in music might be a skilful performer, but more importantly he was a composer, a theorist or at least a famous maestro di cappella. In the late 17th and 18th centuries a great number of Italian”
“A Natural Virtuoso!”
“Just a few words I’ve penned over tea
That I hope will warm your heart and bless
Who in all the wide-world could it be?
An appreciative music lover no less…”
A piece of music that requires virtuosic technique is J. S. Bach’s famous showstopper: Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Fragments of the Toccata are included in a video of myself performing the poem.
In the Spring of 1990 I set about writing a poem about Easter with the intention of having it published in a journal that would be available at that time. When the poem was eventually finished, it was without ‘Eastertide’ in the title. Although I had virtually no church attendance since childhood, I found myself including elements of the Easter story.
Then, before summer was in full swing, some Christians started to befriend me. They were from a local church canvassing the area. I was eventually invited to a Sunday morning meeting and someone named Colin Spurdle was due to pick me up. However, for a good reason he forgot and said he would come the following week. That Sunday came and I was so eager to go that I decided to go by myself. I have now been attending the same church for thirty years, plus.
During my years at this church, the poem was redrafted, extended and finally finished.
This rhyming poem is based on the Biblical events that took place in the Garden of Eden — and includes a reading of the future. When writing these verses, care was taken to adhere to the fidelity and the sequence of events as given in the Bible.
The music that goes with this poem is the Elizabethan Serenade by Ronald Binge. It is light and grandiose with such positive, live giving vigour.
It was a windy May afternoon when I was walking down the garden path. I happened to notice, it seemed for the first time, an array of beautiful flowers in bloom. Maybe it was their swaying that caught my attention. Anyway, I stopped for a closer look and saw bumble-bees indiscriminately landing on them; one, then the other. To capture this nature in action, I made a video recording with my phone.
The following morning this scene, with words, was going round my head, and before breakfast the poem was complete.
The music I paired with the poem, Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata, echoes the back and forth movement of the flowers. For added imagination, one could imagine dancing ladies instead of flowers.
This poem came into being as a result of a theme that was set by a poetry group in Croydon, Surrey. The theme was sport, and I hadn’t a clue what to write until I was engaged in a mindless activity at home. So, during unfruitful mind activity, fishing surfaced. As I wasn’t too familiar about fishing, I visited a local angling shop to find out more… and the rest is history!
“Gone Fishing”
“It’s 3:15 am and I’ve just packed my lunch and kit The predictive seaweed looks clammy as I check it The shipping forecast confirms, rain is on the way And hovering around minus two for most of the day…”
Naturally, ‘The Trout’ by Schubert leads up to the narration.
This poem is a whistle-stop tour of Cumbria in the North West of England. All the places mentioned in the verses were part of my itinerary. As The Lakes were Wordsworth’s country, I felt inspired to write. Two other poems were also written here: Pennsylvania and Wrynose Pass (see above).
“Cumbria”
“I’m writing from Lakeland’s Ambleside This holiday is making me tired Lots to see, lots to do (Quite comfortable at Hotel Vale View) Lots more to do, lots more to see Kodak is making a fortune from me!…”
The music that is before the narration is: Farewell To Stromness by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.
This poem is about a long, winding road journey with nothing but the cloak of night for company.
The scene:
The Lake District. It is sunset. I had just arrived at an isolated tarn miles and miles from civilisation. After leaving the car, I continue on foot. On the rocky, uneven path to capture the lake (about 1 km) my phone bleeps — it’s a welcome text message from _ _ _. Very odd. Is that a chill going down my back? There is something about the atmospherics here…! Anyway, after the photography I return to the car and set the SatNav. The night draws in…
“Wrynose Pass”
“I’m on my way back to my lodgings Not long, I hope, ‘till I’m safely back I set the SatNav and follow its commands It’s getting darker and will soon be pitch black…”
The introductory music is a fantastical piece by Beethoven, aka the Moonlight Sonata.
In 2017 I was staying in Ambleside, Cumbria. As the accommodation in the B & B was called the Pennsylvanian Suite, there was also reading information about this American State available. So, naturally one evening I wrote this poem.
“In 2017 I was sojourning in Ambleside. The American style B & B was named Compston House. I happened to be in the Pennsylvanian Suite which was well facilitated and included sufficient reading material — including information about Pennsylvania. From these facts and figures I extracted the following rhyming verse. (The second and third in the trilogy are ‘Wrynose Pass’ and ‘Cumbria’ respectfully.)
Pennsylvania
(The Keystone State)
With a population @ 12, 000,000
And total area over 46k square miles
Pennsylvania is really quite large
With many couples walking down the aisles…”
The first piece of music that came to mind has strong American overtones: Dvorák’s Theme from the ‘New World’.
Splashes of Ink 