Fidelity – dVerse

claudia-music-1

Artist: Claudia Schoenfeld

He holds his guitar as a lover,
Stroking the maple, the cherrywood,
And most of all, the singing strings.

His sleep is filled with chords,
His duvet undulates beneath his fingers,
His mattress sighs at his sweet nothings whisper

Yes, all of his guitars are his one true love.


 

Courtesy of dVerse, where we continue to celebrate 5 whole years of poetic gloriousness, I have learned today about the form that is the sevenling. I have tried my hand at it – using music as the inspiration as requested – I hope it’s sufficient enough to be considered one!

We also have a fabulous interview with Claudia, who is not only a poet, but an artist as well. I have just found out that she is an urban sketcher too – I try my hand at it, mostly whilst waiting for trains, or on trains, as part of my way of relaxing on the daily commute. The picture above is one of her vibrant works! Thank you, Claudia, for allowing us to use one of your paintings today.

Jazz Man and Views (Reverb) – dVerse MTB

brother believe in your silver-spangled skill-set

stand on the shore, survey the scene

let your guitar sing, reverberate those rhythms

play it again boy, play it with ease

 

brother believe in your power and your glory

step all aboard, anchors set free

dive into those oceans, manipulate that music

play it all night boy, play with the breeze

 

brother believe, bring back your tall tales

return to the harbour, head held high

hold fast to the memories, they’ll last you a lifetime

play with your youth boy, play and believe.


 

I’ll be honest, this is an old poem I posted back in 2013. I’ll be more honest – I’m a little empty on the inspiration front  with regards to thinking about a subject matter AND meter tonight. Sometimes it happens, right?

Anyway, I wanted to take part in the dVerse fun (and on the right day!), so here it is. My brother has just come back from another stint working as a guitarist on a cruise ship, so this is a little welcome home for him.

I also read this out at a poetry slam a couple of years ago – nerve-wracking though it was, I had such fun, and the audience were fabulous.

For those of you who have stumbled across my blog, if you want to read and even take part in dVerse Meeting the Bar, do head on over to the website. We’re a friendly, welcoming crowd and there’s always something good going on.

Thank you to Victoria for hosting tonight!

Bassline – dVerse

You speak like the words are tripping over your tongue, boy, like your brain’s runnin’ too fast to share all your street joy, your mental agility, your linguistic ability- – – – – it silences me. I cannot compete, you’ve been doin’ it for years, listenin’ to those MCs, they’re controllin’ like masters, freestylin’ with fluidity, there ain’t no rigidity, shoutin’ over ghetto blasters – – – – – you’re a tough act to come after. So I ain’t rhymin’, or reasonin’, or trying to emulate, you win hands down, boy. I dig it.

Watching drum and bass MCs spit words like broken teeth sends me crazy.

 

Bassline

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This week, on dVerse Meeting the Bar, Bjorn is our benevolent bartender and he has cordially invited us to indulge in haibun (prose, followed by haiku), but he also invites us to test and distort the tradition. I think that I have broken all the rules, apart from using 17 syllables in the closing line, which is in the style of an American Sentence – because I love, love, love Allen Ginsberg, I couldn’t resist. And, because I spent some time last night watching a drum & bass DJ and MC on an internet radio station, I threw rhyme and rhythm into my (not quite) prose section.

Poetry is all about breaking the rules, right? I hope you enjoy it 🙂

Please pop over to dVerse to see how others have risen to this challenge.