Sated Song: Storybook

This week’s Stated Song is Storybook which is from the musical Scarlet Pimpernel. When I was younger I was in voice lessons to learn how to sing and this was a song I remember very fondly  doing. I really like the dreamer’s voice and attitude. Some days I feel this same way. Some days I feel like I am just a dreamer with no real love. However, I am lucky, because I do have real love. I have a wonderful family and friends who love me. Yet, since I don’t have a ‘lover’ I do feel like I am missing what is real love, which is what this song is about.

You can listen to the actual song on youtube. It is sung by Rachel York. The musical, The Scarlet Pimpernel  is a 1997 Broadway musical composed by Frank Wildhorn and written by Nan Knighton, the production starred Douglas Sills as Sir Percy Blakeney, Christine Andreas as Marguerite Blakeney, and Terrence Mann as Citizen Chauvelin. ( I simply copied and pasted all this information from The Scarlet Pimpernel’s Wikiepedia page.)

 

The lyrics that I used for this Stated song are:

Listen to me, I have beautiful dreams I can spin you
Dreams to linger within you
Close your eyes and we’ll ride my carousel
I’ll tell you stories of lovers whose love used to fill me
And the lovers who will be
For, you see, love is one thing I do well
Come, let’s believe love can be just as sweet as it seems
Let’s live on dreams!

In my dreams such beautiful lovers have found me
Storybook lovers surround me
Nothing is real, but I’m flying, sighing
Where is my storybook ending?
Why does my golden pretending
Leave me with nothing to hold but my dreams?

Oh, is it only in dreams that we find our ideal love?
Are there lovers with real love?
If you know how to feel love, show me now
but my prince, if you can’t be as sweet as you seem
I’d rather dream

Come and wake me!
Come be the love I can hold now
Storybook love leaves me cold now
Show me the way to stop dreaming
There is only one perfect storybook ending
That is the end of pretending
That is the moment I say, love me now!

The No Structure Poem

poetry

I have been only focusing on poetry that has a structure or a type. Yes, I did do a free verse the other day, but still felt tied down in the fact that it had to be a free verse poem. I was reviewing the types I could do and decided not to decide. I guess this will be a free verse, because it has no type. It may turn into a type. Who knows? I don’t plan to edit it or control this piece of art. I’m just going to  write, publish and see what happens.

A dog can love

a child can smile

and I can love.

Love with my heart

while the world says hate.

I’ll close my eyes and smile on.

I’ll hold on to my hope that lives deep in my heart.

When the end is fa away

and home is out of sight

I will hold tight to my love

hold tight to my hope

and look at the blue sky.

The clear blue sky that is a whisper

from above saying,” you are not alone

you are love.”

Yes, I will hold on to that love

and love the world.

When the world says stop

I will smile on.

When the world says no

I will continue to love.

And when the world says it’s over

I will hold tight to my hope.

Because through any pain

you can smile

Through any obstacle

you can love

and through any ending

you can hope.

If you think you can not love

look at a dog.

If you think you can not smile

look at a child.

And if you can not hope

come to me.

Yes, a dog can love,

A child can smile

and I, I can hope.

I will hope endlessly.

Interesting Thought.

You may have noticed that this past weekend I spent a lot of time with my camera recording. I had my normal acting video, my painting, and a special short story for my nephew.

My hope in doing acting videos is for people to watch, be entertained, and hopefully give feedback. I am doing them so I can grow. My focus with them is others that I may not know. I’m trying to reach the widest audience with these videos.
I recorded my painting because I find it interesting to watch a painting come to life. I know a few friends enjoy watching them, but I do it because I like it. I’m not really focused on the audience with these videos.
Finally I recorded my short story for an audience of one. I only cared about entertaining my nephew. I had fun writing for him and showing my love to him in a unique way; in a way that was very much me. He has been a big fan of mine and he may not even know how much him liking my art means to me, but it means the world to me. I can always count on him for a good review.

What is interesting about these three videos? Well I realized something important. It is something that I should have known and as an artist I should remind myself every time before sitting/ standing to create. I realized that when you focus your art on someone you love or share your love through your art, that is when it means something. When love is at the center you will get noticed.

I almost didn’t post my short story on youtube. I was just going to post it on my sister’s facebook wall, but I wanted to make sure my nephew would be able to see it whenever he wanted. That was the only reason I posted it on youtube. Now it has 11 views, (I know that is not that much) when I was hoping for only 1. My painting has 14, when I did not care and my acting has 3 when I was going for at least 14.

The lesson in all of this is remembered to do what you love because you love it, not because of others.



My flower Haiku and other

poetry

Haiku

Below is the most popular definition, but there is more to haiku than meets the eye:

Haiku (also called nature or seasonal haiku) is an unrhymed Japanese verse consisting of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables (5, 7, 5) or 17 syllables in all. Haiku is usually written in the present tense and focuses on nature (seasons).

The 5/7/5 rule was made up for school children to understand and learn this type of poetry. For an in-depth description of Haiku, please visit the Shadow Poetry Haiku, Senryu, and Tanka section. There is much more to haiku than the made up 5/7/5 version.

Flowers grow in spring

with the rain watering them

please bloom now flowers.

 

Yeah, that was a stretch, but at least I managed to get a poem in after improv. Let me try another one, that is more me.

These words must be said

they must come to life one way

the words that shine love.

Again, it’s after improv. My creative juices must be low.  Let me know what you think.

My tombstone

poetry

I did not want to think about writing any one else’s tombstone, because if I want to write about you it’s because I love you. That being said I’m not sure if how twisted it is to write an Epitaph for myself, but I kept it light and something I actually wouldn’t mind on my tombstone.

Epitaph

An epitaph is a brief poem inscribed on a tombstone praising a deceased person, usually with rhyming lines.

With life measured in love and not in time
she always shared her love and enjoyed a rhyme
now the time has come for her to venture on
she will be missed not a little but a ton.

 

5/31-6/7 (DreamWard Bound)

success

Monday was a Monday. I worked and worked and wish I was not working at my not lame day job. I didn’t feel all that great so when the day finally ended I came home and flopped on my bed. My nap was longer than it should have been, and after the nap I did not feel like doing anything productive, so I did not.

Tuesday was a lot better. I did a little creative work after my not lame day job and then hung out with friends. It was a simple and good day.

Wednesday I was on fire. I started an epic poem. Really that is the style I was writing in. I’m not sure how epic I can get it, but I started it and will be trying to make it as epic as I can. I also wrote another poem that I posted.

I really am liking my post a poem every day that I’ve been trying to do. It is mostly because Sunday nights I write a bunch, then schedule them to be posted throughout the week. I figure this is a win-win for everyone though. This way you, my reader, are not overwhelmed by four or five posts all at once, and I get more poems out.

Thursday, I went to my improv group, which was smaller this week. The tiny turn out number made for an interesting experience and I believe we were all more creative and free because there was hardly any one there. I also worked on my stated song project, after improv.

Friday came around and I was glad my week, because although my job is not lame it is a job. I came home and tried to dye my hair, I guess it’s darker than I thought, so the dye did not work right. I then tried to make pie pockets and realized I did not know what I was doing, so I made a mess of weird deliciousness. After that it was supposed to be ‘party’ time, but Kateland came home a bit late. All three things distracted me and rubbed me the wrong way, so I did not do anything creative. I did have fun at the party though. My friends are crazy, weird, awesome, and ridiculous.

Today, Saturday, I brought two friends to the airport at 8 (which I don’t recommend doing after you stayed out til 2 the night before ).  Although it was early for a Saturday it was a good thing. I wound up getting a hair cut, new books, and new running shoes. I got home at noon and took a nap. Now, I’m ready to really start my Saturday.

As far as goals go this week. I did not do well. I only walked 3 out of my 5 miles, of course I do have all of tomorrow to walk. I had more than one day where I did not do anything creative. Oh and I hardly read anything, well I hardly read anything besides comic books.

On a positive note I did write a few poems this week and will be posting my stated song at some point.

In case you did not get a chance to read the poems and things I did this week here is the list.

Otis 

Recipe for Love

Untitled Clerihew Poem

The Opposite of Family is Enemy

Stated Song: Carry on Wayward Son

I hoped you enjoyed my rambling and I’ll get this week’s Stated Song up at some point tomorrow.

Friendship

I am really thankful for my friends today. Nothing major happened. I simply am thankful for them and all the ways they help me be the best me I can be, whether that is apartment search, giving support for my goals, being goofy or answering every question I ask.  Friendships are easy to take for granted, and it is easy to not realize how essential friendships are.

That being said, during my ten minutes of creativity today I wrote them a poem. Even though it does not have the words, “thank you” in it, this is my thank you poem to all the people I call friends (family, friend-family, and friends alike).

 

Why does the sun shine

and the grass grow?

Why does the wind blow

and I breathe?

The answer should be clear.

It is because you are near.

The sun shines bright

and days last longer

when you are smiling,

when you are laughing.

The grass grows greener

and the wind calms the storms for just a bit longer,

when you my friend are living along side me.

Happiness brings the sun out

even on a cloudy day;

the grass grows

even in a drought

when friendship is sought.

I can breathe with ease

because the wind calms the storms

when you stand close.

 

What a wonderful life

when friendship can be seen.

 

Poetic reading (Sunshine and Rain

The other day I recorded my poetry reading for the first time. I am hoping to record more and become more creative with the video, but this is a start. Today’s video is Sunshine and Rain, which I posted on here earlier in the year. I have edited, recorded and posted it for your enjoyment… I hope you enjoy it.  Below you will find the full edited poem. Please let me know what you think.

Sunshine And Rain

I woke to a new day,
woke with a thought,
woke with a hope
of you close by.
Yes, I woke with you were near.
but as my eyes opened
the dream faded
and I was alone.

This made me wonder
made me think,
do you believe in me?
Do you look at the grey, cold sky
and see the sunshine?
Do you stand in the rain
and feel sun beams?
In your night can you feel my day?

You may be far far away
as far as the moon is from the sun
but there is still a moon
and I still see the sun.
In the storm and the rain,
I will see sunshine.
I will stay awake at night,
so that I can feel your day.
And until the sun and moon meet
I will believe in you

Poetic reading (No Mold)

I have decided to record poem readings. My first one recorded is the last poem I wrote (No Mold). I have posted the first draft of the poem on this blog but have edited it since. Here is the version I used for this video.

No Mold

Oh sad and crumpling world

where the non-judgmental judge,

where those who fight for the future

live in the past,

and where beauty is

as fragile as a single word.

What a poor world

where beauty and art

can only be seen striped of dignity,

where nonconformist conforms,

and integrity is torn from morals.

What a sad, sad world

where one shouts, “Be who you are,”

as they push you into a mold.

Can you not see my beauty?

do you not understand my soul?

I am not simply a body.

I do not need your mold.

Yes, what a sad, crumpling world.

It breaks my very being,

so I will walk away.

And stand where others will fall.

see the beauty in dignity,

art in the unmodified.

For I do not judge those who judge

do not condemn those who condemn

and I love all.