Art

Dear Amy

/ Poetpas

precious jazzy jewel
diamond in the rough
colourful and bright
tender and yet tough

raw voice
with innocent delight
left with struggle
lost her daily fight

afraid of fame
a broken frame
died lonely
with some to blame

a devotee she’ll find in me
dear Amy,
wine in my house
please sing for Me

Arts n Farts

/ Poetpas

potential rubble
a creative bubble
let it all out
let the wind blow it through

It may end up in a frame
it may come out with poo

How insensitive – Bireli Lagrene

/ Poetpas

How insensitive
I must have seemed
When she told me that he loved me
How unmoved and cold
I must have seemed
When she told me so sincerely
Why she must have asked
Did I just turn and stare in icy silence
What was I to say
What can you say when a love affair is over
Now she’s gone away
And I’m alone with the memory of her last look
Vague and drawn and sad
I see it still
All her heartbreak in that last look
Why she must have asked
Did I just stare in icy silence
What was I to do
What can one do when a love affair is over

Songwriters: Norman Gimbel / Vinicius De Moraes / Antonio Carlos Jobim

Featuring: Tom Waits

/ Poetpas / Leave a comment

Today I’m featuring this man, this musician (and actor) whom I love for his style and gravelly dark voice, his intelligence and dark humor. Not known to everybody, this extraordinary individual brings with his own distinct, off-kilter brand of weirdness to his music and acts the boozy troubadours and raspy-voiced noir loners who populate his songs. Using his distinct voice, Tom Waits conjures up boozy ballads designed to be played low at 3 a.m. and melodies that might echo off the broken-down rides of an abandoned, haunted carnival. His is an eclectic style, combining blues, jazz, cabaret, Spooky Sounds of Halloween sound effects tapes, and more. This distinct, unmistakable style goes beyond Waits’ musical accomplishments, finding its way into his acting in the two dozen or so film appearances the singer has made.

Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, composer, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during the 1970s, but his music since the 1980s has reflected greater influence from blues, rock, vaudeville, and experimental genres.

Waits was born and raised in a middle-class family in Pomona, California. Inspired by the work of Bob Dylan and the Beat Generation, he began singing on the San Diego áfolk music circuit as a teenager. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1972, where he worked as a songwriter before signing a recording contract with Asylum Records. His first albums were the jazz-oriented Closing Time (1973) and The Heart of Saturday Night (1974), which reflected his lyrical interest in nightlife, poverty, and criminality. He repeatedly toured the United States, Europe, and Japan, and attracted greater critical recognition and commercial success with Small Change (1976), Blue Valentine (1978), and Heartattack and Vine (1980). He produced the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola’s film One from the Heart (1981), and subsequently made cameo appearances in several Coppola films.

In 1980, Waits married Kathleen Brennan, split from his manager and record label, and moved to New York City. With Brennan’s encouragement and frequent collaboration, he pursued a more experimental and eclectic musical aesthetic influenced by the work of Harry Partch and Captain Beefheart. This was reflected in a series of albums released by Island Records, including Swordfishtrombones (1983), Rain Dogs (1985), and Franks Wild Years (1987). He continued appearing in films, notably starring in Jim Jarmusch’s Down by Law (1986), and also made theatrical appearances. With theatre director Robert Wilson, he produced the musicals The Black Rider and Alice, first performed in Hamburg. Having returned to California in the 1990s, his albums Bone Machine (1992), The Black Rider (1993), and Mule Variations (1999) earned him increasing critical acclaim and multiple Grammy Awards. In the late 1990s, he switched to the record label ANTI-, which released Blood Money (2002), Alice (2002), Real Gone (2004), and Bad as Me (2011).
Despite a lack of mainstream commercial success, Waits has influenced many musicians and gained an international cult following, and several biographies have been written about him. In 2015, he was ranked at No. 55 on Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time”. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.

There is a lot more information to be found on Wikipedia which is too much to mention here and I don’t want to bore readers with endless details. I do suggest you check him out, his music and his acting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Waits

Sources: Wikipedia, YouTube, interweb, poetpas

Snow

/ Poetpas / Leave a comment

a virgin blanket
sewed with frozen powdered aqua
covering the lands
light and white
forsaken
at the hands
of the sky…

a soft throw;
I think it’s called snow