Monday, November 28, 2011

A Song for the Moon

Courtesy of Eden Ink Photography

Mi Luna by David LaMotte on Grooveshark

Mi  Luna, written by the late Nicaraguan songwriter Salvador Cardenal Barquero.   Spanish guitar by Juan Benevides, sung by David LaMotte, harmony vocals by Tish Hinojosa (From David LaMotte's album "Change", which came out in 2006).

Mi luna
ha visto tanto
que cuando le canto su plata me acuna
como a los santos
y los prisioneros, los amantes
los locos errantes y los pordioseros
que amamantamos tu luz.

Cuando no hay amigos, pan ni dinero
solo la poesía que flota en el aire sincero
y en las bancas solas
que hay en los parques
que mueren de frío
esperando amores amanezqueros.

Ay mi luna llena, escucha la pena
cuando un hombre canta
al amor que quiere.
Ay mi luna llena, escucha la pena
cuando un hombre canta
al amor que espera.
Ay mi luna llena. . .

I know about five words in Spanish, and one of them is luna.  The music went straight to my heart but I wanted to know what the words meant - so I used the Google Translator.  That translation - literal, and lacking - didn't illuminate. How words miscommunicate and how we struggle to make sense of them, even when awkwardly expressed!  What does it mean, for example, to "float through the air, sincere"?  [poetry, that is.] 

My personal interpretation, humbly offered, based on my sense of the verbatim Spanish, and what the feelings the music and that photographic image combined, evoked:

My moon
you've seen so much,
heard the outpourings of saints,
prisoners, lovers, beggars,
wandering madmen -
we're all nurtured by your light.

Friendless, hungry, destitute -
only poetry truly permeates.
Alone on park benches
one can die of the cold,
waiting for love.

Ah, my full moon,  hear our pain
when we sing of our yearning, of
love wanted,
love hoped for.

_____________________
*Thanks to Abigail of Eden Ink Photography for her kind permission to share the above photo.


Wednesday, November 16, 2011

photopoesis

Photo by John Levy

Announcing my new photoblog, Photopoesis, launched this past weekend, which will function as a photo sharehouse for interesting, unusual and/or compelling photography. 

The first installment features the photos of John Levy, poet/writer/lawyer of Tucson, AZ.  Special thanks to John for sharing these magnificent images and for his collaborative input that resulted in my finally tackling this photo project I'd often thought about but never quite got around to doing.

Which photos to select, how and in what order to place them, etc., was a fun and intriguing process where size, color, subject, 'theme', shape, texture, angle, shadow, humor, irony, and visual impact all came into play.  Each photo tells its own 'story'.  For example:

** A newly hatched life says hello to existence.
** A wilted oleander, attack and death in the insect world,
      a skeleton eyeing a passerby, all remind viewers of life's
      cycle of impermanence.
** A spontaneous gesture from a biker in traffic aligns with fence
      shubbery  to point in the same direction, in perfect symmetry.
** A wall shadow spreads forth on a sunlit pavement.
** Stains on top a garbage can resemble the map of a distant blue
     world.
** A turtle watches a discarded slice of watermelon float by.
** A hummingbird is immortalized suspended in mid-flight.

Camera-captured moments that beckon and hold us.

Pop by if you've time, and take a peek. They are really worth a look!

Click here to enter the site.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Show-time, share-time, again!!

                                                             
                                                                             nineteen
                                                                        NEW  POEMS 
                                                                                                                      up on 
                                                                        SALAMANDER  
                                                                               COVE         
                                                                                   T
                                                                                   o
                                                                                   d
                                                                                   a
                                                                                   y                            
                                   <-- Joel E. Jacobson - Paul Pines  - Anna Swanson -->
                                                                       Meg Bateman 
                                                                       Zoe Skoulding     
                                                                      Alexei Tsvetkov
                                                              SedleRichard   Assonne
                                                                    t                         r
                                                                   t                            o
                                                                  o                              j
                                                                 n                                 a
                                                                K                                   M
                                                           Bill                                      Alice    


ART by   Bill Knott
                         Anthony Duce
                                   Jean-Michel Ripaud
                                                         Néle Azevedo

PHOTOGRAPHY by Jonathan of Beeps & Chirps


   

Enter HERE