Manuel Renaud
France
Here is a French song by Manuel Renaud featured on this blog for World Music Day 2024:
Bio (in French):
Manuel Renaud, auteur, compositeur, interprète, guitariste,bassiste.
Arrangeur, orchestrateur.
Deux albums avec le groupe iago.
Un E.P avec le groupe Chamane.
De nombreuses maquettes solo
sur
www.soundcloud.com/manuel-renaud
Cyril Luximan
Mauritius
Here is a song by Cyril Luximan in Kreol Morisien (Mauritan Kreol) featured on this blog for World Music Day 2024:
Bio:
Cyril Luximan lives in the southern coastal village of Souillac, Mauritius. His Kreol poem Eleksion (Election) was selected as winning poem for Valentine’s Day Contest organized by Scope Magazine. His first poetry book Otour Lamour (Love-focused) , in Mauritian Kreol language was published in 2014. He is also the author of the comic book , La Rivier Mous (Save the River) published by his own indie press, Maucontes Editions. In 2021, his project for children books publication was accepted by Africa Culture Fund among the 360 submissions from 36 African countries. He has further published Dominio la tortue, an illustrated book in French and Mauritian Kreol, Sauvons la Riviere Savanne – comics in French and Pikpik , another children book in Kreol in 2022.He is also an event host, song writer and has collaborated with various local singers.
Jean- Luc Dancy
Germany /France
Here is a French song by Jean -Luc Dancy featured on this blog for World Music Day 2024:
Song title: La chanteuse
Bio (in French):
Jean-Luc Dancy est un auteur-compositeur-interprète et poète francophone originaire du Forez (Massif Central). C´est en Grande Bretagne qu’il a passé la plus grande partie de sa vie active, principalement comme inspecteur des postes londoniennes et consultant pour l´Union Postale Universelle.
Ce n´est qu’à partir de la quarantaine qu´il a décidé de se consacrer à la chanson et à la poésie écrite.
Entre 1996 et 2017, il s’est produit plusieurs centaines de fois en public et dans plusieurs pays, chantant Brel, Brassens, Bécaud, Aznavour, Ferrat…ainsi que ses propres compositions.
Jean-Luc a publié plusieurs recueils de poésie depuis 2016. “À la croisée des destins”, paru en avril 2024, contient un nombre de nouvelles et récits en prose – une forme littéraire vers laquelle il se dirige de plus en plus.
Jean-Luc Dancy a vécu dans plusieurs pays européens et parle couramment six langues.
Il vit actuellement dans le nord-ouest de l´Allemagne.
Robert Lloyd
Australia
Here are two songs by Robert Lloyd featured on this blog for World Music Day 2024:
Bio:
Since 1986, Robert Lloyd has established himself as an international composer, performer and teacher, writing music for concerts, multi-media, screen, modern dance and theatre. His unique music, described by The New York Times as ‘shimmering driving score’, has captivated audiences around the world.
Robert’s qualifications include 2-year doctorate studies in Creative Arts/Music, studies with Dr Jim Franklin, University of Western Sydney, and a Bachelor of Music/Education, Adelaide University.
From 1973 to 1995, Robert led his own ensemble and toured and taught his music in Australia, USA, Europe and Asia. Since that time, various musicians and ensembles have recorded, commissioned and played his work.
Some projects include music for Ohio Ballet’s Feral, choreographed by Molissa Fenley, Bold New Buildings for Australian Dance Theatre and Nullabor for Molissa Fenley, Joyce Theatre, New York and American tours.
Move Records released Nullabor in 1995, while 2001 saw the release of Robert Lloyd, a compilation of keyboards, piano and percussion music, both to critical acclaim.
Time Being Time, a one-hour work for singers, spoken voices, strings and percussion was premiered in 1999 at the Supreme Court building in Darwin.
The 21st Century sees Robert exploring new directions. Starting with a concert in 2001, held at the Studio, Sydney Opera House, with the German duo, Trio A Due, he has begun to experiment with text, music and new media.
Poetry has been an ongoing interest for Robert and in 2000 he started writing songs. The first, Simplicity, inspired by Robert’s Welsh Bardic, heritage and studies of sacred texts, took one year to write. Indeed, he has often found writing a slow and difficult task, but continues to develop his craft with the daily practice of mind/body/spirit yoga.
The Goethe Institute in Sydney has commissioned two works by Robert: Song for five continents for the 2001 Sydney Olympics and Shalom/Salaam in 2003.
During 2003, John Schaefer featured Robert’s music on New Sounds from WNYC, New York and ABC Radio commissioned the music and sound for Cinema of Solitude, a half hour special on Robert Bresson.
Two pieces, The Untouched Key for strings and The Empty Boat for solo piano, were composed in 2004 for the soundtrack to the John Conomos film Aura, which ran for three weeks at Art-Space Sydney.
A renaissance man, Robert sees little division between his work as composer, songwriter, teacher, writer and public speaker. His current creative vision aims to write music, words and perform music and songs that reflect the state of the world as well as the process of finding meaning in our daily life.
Linda Imbler (Musician)
Photo credit : Mike Imbler
Let the Songs Speak
Songs play an important part in the life of most individuals. They can instantly speak to our minds, hearts and souls and make us reflect about grounded reality, dream of a better world, and at times carry us beyond the mundane-physical.
Thank you to all the singers who have sent their creative works and allowed me to feature them on this blog for World Music Day 2024.
Hope all song-lovers will enjoy listening to the selected songs.
Vatsala Radhakeesoon
Writer/poet/Organizer
Jennifer Lynn
Canada
Bluebird (English)
Sinner like Me (English)
Robert Lloyd
Australia
Dark ships are sailing in (English)
Old man or young man (English)
Jean- Luc Dancy
Germany/France
La chanteuse (French)
Cyril Luximan
Mauritius
La Bwason For (Kreol Morisien/Mauritian Kreol)
Manuel Renaud
France
La balade de Manu dans Colombes (French)
Giles Matthews
Wales
Numbers (English)
Modern Girls (English)
Rafa Bocero
Spain
Quiero Encontrar Mi Luz (Spanish)
Esperança (Spanish)
Linda Imbler
Photo credit: Mike Imbler
Celebrating World Music Day through the Power of Words
World Music Day is celebrated every year on 21 June. Poetry and music are basically linked both through songs and the rhythmic flow of words prevailing in poems.
I am grateful to all the poets who have sent their works to be featured on this blog for World Music Day 2024.
Hope all poetry and music lovers will enjoy reading the selected poems.
Let Music be the guide and light!
Vatsala Radhakeesoon
(Writer/poet /Organizer)
Linda Imbler
USA
Guitar Hero Inspires
Fluent movement of prudent hands,
across the fretboard.
New songs learned with focused ease.
Growing into the song,
that easy, graceful play of fingers,
the value of knowing each single symbol.
Once adroit,
a performance launched.
Playing anything from:
the melodious dialogue of the peaceful,
encompassing sky music,
some folk songs defiant, or built on naiveté,
perhaps silky jazz.
Exultant descent down the scale,
drawing the curved breath of the strings,
until the last notes fade to silence.
Linda Imbler is a musician and an internationally published poet with twelve poetry collections and one hybrid e-book of short fiction and poetry. She is a Wichita, Kansas based author.
Learn more at:
lindaspoetryblog.blogspot.com
Kushal Poddar
India
The Sunshine Song
The rain and sharp sun blend today,
and we sway our legs over the water,
and hum the Denver song that ties us,
my daughter and I. We met here
from two leagues of time; we become
one now, and the lyrics are our shared
umbilical cord. The sun shines and tears commix
with the rain. We feed the earth. We cross
fields of similes. We are old hearing Denver,
older than the earth and younger than
this platinum yellow that blinds us, binds
us inside our closed eyes, within the dreams we see.
The Song of The Crow
Barely remember the tree
it blossoms so, sprawls across
the window full of sky.
I cannot see any green, almost
no brown. My father, a crow today,
reminds me from the lowest bough
that I run late. Only a crow can make
one’s daily routine a song.
The tunes and lyrics mix match.
I ready my body; my mind roams
in the yard where petals of the notes fall.
Kushal Poddar, author of ‘Postmarked Quarantine’ and ‘How To Burn Memories Using a Pocket Torch’ has nine books to his credit. He is a journalist, father of a four-year-old, illustrator, and an editor. His works have been translated into twelve languages and published across the globe.
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Kushalpoe
Dinesh Bachoo
Mauritius
Inner Music
(Translated from French by the author)
In the fantasy land
The round machine in delirium
It’s like a wild goose chase
Then, begins a soulful blue tale
Defying the acoustic illusion
A cosmic siren song
The rosary of my soul
At dawn, silence glorifies infinity
With the vibes of drums
A juggler emerges from the eurythmy
The dreaded inevitable is my only anguish
Thought seduces symphony
Dancing to the rhythms of the opus
I give in defenceless to the Muses
In search of a clear- white fountain
The writing intoxicates the music hall
Art swings a mystic pendulum
The black hole gently disappears
In the depth of space
Always within the usual silence
Inner music abundantly flows freely.
Dinesh Bachoo is a Mauritian poet born on 22 October 1967 at Triolet. He started writing while he was still at secondary school in 1982. Though his chosen language for literary writing is French, being a Kreol Morisien teacher, he also writes in Mauritian Creole. Having published a poetry book in that language, he plans to launch another one very soon and this time it will be in French.
Heath Brougher
USA
Riding the Dynamo Trane Made of Horns
(inspired by John Coltrane’s performance at Temple University on November 11th, 1966)
I experienced the offering—
a form of cre-
scen-
do-
ing
in the flesh,
in good ole Philly—
a human bearing their soul and burning alive
in bigbigblooming
bursts of blowin explosions
and barbed-wire chest beatings and frustrated screaming
waxing dynamic on the purity of art itself.
Trane Poem
(inspired by John Coltrane’s EP “Om” and playing around with some of The Bhagavad Gita which is intoned at the beginning of the song)
Listener of the spinning wax circle. I close
my eyes and swim the River of Clarified Butter
flowing in a flashflood of enthickened liquid sonics
enlightening veins and brains.
The world comes alive
with ghosts of healing hearing.
I, receptor of a musical flame,
earthly mother and grandchild—
the fruit of audible action and reaction
make all things clean.
Om!
Heath Brougher is the Editor-in-Chief of Concrete Mist Press and co-poetry editor of Into the Void, winner of the 2017 and 2018 Saboteur Awards for Best Magazine.
He received Taj Mahal Review’s 2018 Poet of the Year Award and is a multiple Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. In 2020 he was awarded the Wakefield Prize for Poetry. He has published 12 books and, after spending over two years editing the work of others, is ready to get back into the creative driver’s seat.
Cyril Luximan
Mauritius
For you, Music
(Translated from Mauritian Kreol by Vatsala Radhakeesoon)
Pleasant to the ears and soothing to the mind
Walking with us, hand in hand all-kind
Obviously, you are omnipresent
A lullaby to kids all -innocent
We travel with sounds
When all notes fit in the round
Go on with the power of solfège
Then, let the F Sharp Major overtake
You help to overcome hectic-heaviness
And bring in abundance happiness
A companion in tough time
All fall in place with hug-rhyme
You’re always there to praise the Lord
Divine songs, all deep prayers can afford
You step to weddings and funerals
You’re the best friend of workers- manual
You embellish fancy-fairs
You’re present in all music -shows- flair
Whether in a ship, on plane , or in car
Move, move, listen and dance to rhythm-unscarred
All the ballroom oldies and disco
Mesmerizing classic-lovers and techno
Memories good and bad
You can control all moods-lads.
You play a crucial role
As every advertisement unfolds
You help in beautifying
choreography perfect-wings
In every political meeting
People turn to you to attract public gatherings
Thanks to you poems become songs
Verses and chorus get their sounds never wrong
You create cadence
that makes everyone dance
Global radio and T,V channels
daily play them non-stop, so well
The language of music is as lovely as rainbow
The mission of all music forms is bringing universal glow
In all four corners of the world
We celebrate you as 21st June calls.
Cyril Luximan lives in the southern coastal village of Souillac, Mauritius. His Kreol poem Eleksion (Election) was selected as winning poem for Valentine’s Day Contest organized by Scope Magazine. His first poetry book Otour Lamour (Love-focused) , in Mauritian Kreol language was published in 2014. He is also the author of the comic book , La Rivier Mous (Save the River) published by his own indie press, Maucontes Editions. In 2021, his project for children books publication was accepted by Africa Culture Fund among the 360 submissions from 36 African countries. He has further published Dominio la tortue, an illustrated book in French and Mauritian Kreol, Sauvons la Riviere Savanne – comics in French and Pikpik , another children book in Kreol in 2022.He is also an event host, song writer and has collaborated with various local singers.
Richard Doiron
Canada
Bob The Guitarman
Some people pull strings; others pluck them.
Then there’s Bob and his guitar. Bob is as
connected to the strings, as the strings
are to guitar. In fact, as I see it, Bob,
the guitar and the strings are rather
all parts of a singular instrument.
I have observed this man for over forty years,
have watched him strum his guitar, listened
to his flawless pitch, noticed how he has
slid into an arrangement upon hearing
a new piece for the very first time.
Whether playing lead or backup, Bob’s the man
of the hour in any ensemble. Indeed, I have,
on occasion, seen dancers stop in mid-
stride to behold the magic made in
his strumming.
A man of few words, this fellow lets his guitar do
the talking and the feedback speaks volumes
on how he reaches the given audience.
Older “fans” come to listen to the “master,” while
the younger set quickly recognizes why their
seniors are so caught up in the playing.
As for me, in many ways, it seems inevitable that,
at times, I get so caught up in the music, that I
end up projecting myself as nothing short of
being part of that combo of Bob, the guitar
and the strings onto which his fingers
so adeptly move.
Here’s to the Night
Here’s to the night the music played,
The way we danced, the moves we made,
In sync with drums, each single beat
That spurred us on and moved our feet!
Here’s to the moon and stars above
That lit the sky and prompted love,
With you and I who took that floor
Like waves that crashed upon the shore!
Here’s to the night that spurred us on
– The moves we made a marathon -,
The beat of drums, the strings as well,
That cast on us their magic spell!
Here’s to the God that made the night
And gave us feet so feather light,
Each note that seemed to cause us rise
And be like birds that take the skies!
Here’s to the drums and strings that rang!
Here’s to the songs that “angels” sang!
Here’s to the moon and stars above!
Here’s to the night we fell in love!
Richard Doiron, Canada’s peace poet, works in print for sixty years. More than a thousand of his poems feature in anthologies, periodicals, personal books; and he has authored novels, biographical works, essays and lyrics. He graduated in journalism and is a Certified Lifeskills Coach. His works have been read at the United Nations University for Peace, Costa Rica; and published alongside a dozen Nobel Prize Winners by invitation, including the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, and Desmond Tutu. (Work translated into all major languages, UN 2000.) He is a participant in local, national, and international literary festivals; and a recipient of the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award winner with World Poetry; 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award with Pentasi B World Friendship Poetry; 2019 named World Poet Laureate by the group Pentasi B World Friendship Poetry. He was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, 2019, via Dr. Epitacio Tongohan, Philippines, and named LAUREATE OF THE IVAN AIVAZOVSKY INTERNATIONAL LITERARY AND ART PRIZE 2022 (Ukraine- USA-Germany). He features in media on an ongoing basis, radio, television, and print.
Lidia Chiarelli
Italy
Blue and Green Music
to Georgia O’Keeffe
… and I am waiting
for the lost music to sound again
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
New York, 1921
A music came
from arcane dark kingdoms
a crescendo of notes
confused at first
then stronger and clear.
Splinters of black, green and blue
opened like an ancient fan
while small waves
from distant pearlescent beaches
approached
slowly and lightly.
With fast and rhythmic sounds
a blues song wrapped
the soft shapes of gloomy flowers
with mottled veils
and
luxuriant alien gardens
were born
suddenly bathed in the
diaphanous and fading light
of the pale
colder and farther blue moon
Tribute to “Blue and Green Music”, painting by Georgia O’ Keeffe’s
Lidia Chiarelli (Torino, Italy. Writer and Artist, co-founder, with Aeronwy Thomas, of the art-literary Movement Immagine & Poesia (2007). Award -winning poet. Six nominations to Pushcart Prize, USA. Literary Arts Medal (NY) 2020. KEL winner’s plaque 2022. Her poems are translated and published in many languages.
https://lidiachiarelli.jimdofree.com/
https://lidiachiarelliart.jimdofree.com/
https://immaginepoesia.jimdofree.com/
Vandana Kumar
India
There is enough music to stock the refrigerator with
Guitars wail
Electric blue
In the night’s embrace
There is a smoky bar
Slow dancing to some retro
Daters lose inhibitions
With this sort of music
Smooching in corners
Under streetlamps
Under pretty awnings
You hadn’t ever noticed them
In this hometown of yours
Awnings that kept you from the sun
All through your teenage life of angst
Music travels
And spills
From day to night
Night to day
Everyone is on the streets
It’s the longest day in our parts of the world
News kills
So, does smoking
Music makes everything
So much easier
Vandana Kumar is a French teacher, translator, recruitment consultant, Indie Film Producer, cinephile and poet in New Delhi, India. Her poems have been published in national and international websites of repute like ‘Grey Sparrow Journal’, ‘Dissident Voice’, ‘Borderless journal’, ‘Madras Courier’, ‘Outlook’, ‘Ink Pantry’ etc. She has featured in several literary journals and seminal feminist anthologies of repute.
She was a jury member for the ‘All India Poetry Competition’ organized by ‘Cocoa-Butter’ and also co-edited their debut print anthology that resulted from this competition in 2020-2021. She was the only Indian in 40 participating poets in the ‘INĐIJA PRO POET 2023’ festival held in June23 in Serbia. Her debut collection of poems ‘Mannequin Of Our Times’ was published in February 2023. The book has been awarded ‘The Panorama International Book Award’ 2023 and ‘The Mighty Pens Awards’2023. She has also received the Asian Literary Society’s 2024 certificate for excellence awards in the category of best poetry book and women achievers award for literature. She is a Pushcart Prize-nominated author- poet for the year 2023.
Barbara Anna Gaiardoni
Italy
Haibun
Dissonance
my neck –
dandelions
after rain
Somnambulist notes or ghosts in music seem to make room for emotion, the intense frame of mind.
Brasses have a range of attractive colours, red, yellow, gold, brown, bronze, silver.
“Their metal head glows with an almost divine quality.” Sounds even better when you say it, because you are one of the lucky ones who get to make living out of playing music.
in tune
with olive-sized nugget
of wisdom
Barbara Anna Gaiardoni alias @bag is the winner of the First Prize 2023 “Zheng Nian Cup”, National Literature Price and finalist of the Edinburgh “Writings Leith” contest. She received two nominations for the Touchstone Award 2023, recognized on the Haiku Euro Top 100 list for 2023 and on The Mainichi’s Haiku in English Best 2023. Her Japanese-style poems have been published in The Mainichi, Asahi Haikuist Network, The Japan Society UK and in 174 other international journals.
Website:
http://barbaragaiardoni.altervista.org/blog/haikuco-2/
Sushant Thapa
Nepal
Wonder in Music
I always say
There is music in wonder.
I have a songbird from my childhood,
It also has a clock
Attached to its neck.
The echoing laughter
In a forest,
Is my suburb rain
Making music on my roof.
I wonder
And music rains
From my path of getting wildly lost
In the homely woods.
The time on the songbird
Leads me to the path of presence
For worldly enthusiasm.
Music soothes the gaps and nooks
And there is a girl who has
Flowers in her hair
And a Guitar in her hand,
She is my companion now
And the songbird still sings
The symphony.
I sit by the piano outside,
While I am camping;
The kindling flames
Also make music.
I wonder and stare at the stars
Don’ t they make music
In playing and celebrating
Togetherness?
I wonder if the songbird
Would shed a tear,
I would flow in music,
Like the river of continuity,
Like the sharp cry of blues guitar
Loosening my muddy boots
Of a long walk of life.
Sushant Thapa (born on 26th February 1993) is an award-winning Nepalese poet from Biratnagar-13, Nepal who holds an M.A. in English literature from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. He has published five books of English poetry, namely: The Poetic Burden and Other Poems (Authorspress, New Delhi, 2020), Abstraction and Other Poems (Impspired, UK, 2021), Minutes of Merit (Haoajan, Kolkata, 2021), Love’s Cradle (World Inkers Printing and Publishing, New York, USA and Senegal, Africa, 2023) and Spontaneity: A New Name of Rhyme (Ambar Publication House, New Delhi, 2023).
Bill Cushing
USA
HIROMI’S IMAYO
Playing like a mad hatter, Hiromi performs
glissando from Bach to blues, connects then to now.
Her face flaunts infectious fun—reflected in chords
through the music in her bones, transferred to the keys.
ODE TO OTYKEN
They named themselves for the middle ground,
a place to meet, to lay weapons aside.
The pulse of a passing native sound
uses movement to start the tide
in a surge of Siberian blood.
A man’s graveled throat cause a cascade
as jazz melds tradition. In contrast,
drumming or hitting strings then flood
the swelling lilt of sirens’ serenade
that bonds now to a mysterious tribal past.
Bill Cushing lived in several states as well as the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico before moving to California. Because of his experienced serving in the Navy and later as a marine electrician prior to beginning studies at the University of Central Florida, classmates dubbed him the “blue collar poet.”
He earned an MFA in writing from Goddard College in Vermont. He retired after more than 20 years of teaching in Los Angeles area colleges and resides in Glendale with his wife and their son.
For music lovers, his chapbook Music Speaks won the 2019 San Gabriel Valley Poetry Festival chapbook award and a 2021 New York City Book Award. Bill has three other poetry collections: A Former Life (awarded a Kops-Fetherling International Book Award) , . . . this just in. . ., a chapbook incorporating a number of ekphrastic poems, and recently Just A Little Cage of Bone.
Besides his poetry books, he has a collection of short stories (The Commies Come to Waterton) and a book of personal narratives (Time Well Spent). His most recent book, Heroic Brothers of the Civil War, won a 2023 Global Literary Award for historical non-fiction.
For signed copies of his work, contact Bill at:
piscespoet@yahoo.com.
Parameshwaree Munisamy-Odoye
Mauritius
A Mauritian Hymn
Ti le le la lae
O ti lele lae la la
O ti lele lae laa..
The rhythm of the Ravanne
Fuelled the hymn of Savanne
Behind the horizon…
The rattling of the Maravanne
Forced ladies to leave their curry and naan
They tucked the tip of their skirts to their waist…
Ah these ladies as they picked up the rhythm without haste
Where locals showcased their talents and taste
For Sega runs in the blood of Mauritians…
At dawn, when the far-away sounds of the sea
Crashing yet seemingly retrieving before an Inkosi
Nuances of the orangeade-coloured sky hummed…
Parameshwaree Munisamy-Odoye is 33 years old. Married and mother of a lovely son, Vivaansh, she is an Early Childhood Education Tutor at the NSIF, working mainly with children having learning difficulties and needing psychosocial support. She has started writing from the age of 8 and since then, she has never stopped. She has chosen poetry as it enables her to express herself in a fairly more natural yet subtle manner with her readers. She usually performs slam poetry at open mic events and competitions at national level. She also hosts and organizes spoken poetry events. In the past couple of years, her works have been published in two anthologies namely Mauritius Caught in a Dream and Love and Longing: An International Anthology of poems. She wishes to encourage people of all ages to join in this passion that she shares to contribute to the world of poetry and literature.
Jhaya Gujadhur
Mauritius
BEAT THY TRUSTED PAIR OF TINY WINGS!
Beat thy trusted pair of tiny wings.
Thou need confidence of a bird.
No matter the wordings, use them to sing.
A bathroom singer, a queen or a king.
passion and courage are mustered and position is absurd.
Beat thy trusted pair of tiny wings.
From the times of Vikings,
a soured milk was still called curd.
No matter the wordings, use them to sing.
Summer, winter or spring,
hums, buzzes and chirps are heard.
Beat thy trusted pair of tiny wings.
And there in the endless sky, thy voice echoes and swings.
Ringing hearts and swooning souls, won has the power of words.
No matter the wordings, use them to sing.
From trust to fame, rise from the thing to the bling!
Admiration, thee have conquered.
Beat thy trusted pair of tiny wings.
No matter the wordings, use them to sing.
Jhaya Gujadhur is a Specialised Public Health Nurse and poetess from Mauritius. Her first poetry book, Poesy and Quotes has been published in 2023. Her keenness and contribution in quilling keep growing.
Marianne Szlyk
USA
A New Englander Listens to Pet Sounds
Listening to the crinkle of a detuned guitar
like sunlit leaves
on narrow roads,
so far from California’s highways
around lizard-like mountains
basking in the parched sun,
I remember
riding with my uncle and my father
past maple trees, past stone walls,
past abandoned tractors in fields.
(First published in One Sentence Poems)
Music in a Spring of Wind and Rain
Piano and drums flow,
a waterfall contained in a courtyard.
I imagine my friend, a jazz poet, listening to this in his study
while lizard-like mountains bask in fierce sunlight.
Words drift through like trash or tumbleweed
while smoke hovers over parched ground.
Fountains have been shut down.
Only pennies remain.
My friend is not from this city of gray stone buildings
that, rain or shine, look older than they really are.
To him, the music he heard was smoke and ash,
rising from parched ground, permeating hair and skin.
On stage drum beats and piano notes fall in torrents.
Outside, rain plunges down the hotel’s gray façade.
Everything I hear is water.
(First published in Polish in Pisarze.pl. Translated by Anna-Maria Mickiewicz from English)
Marianne Szlyk’s books include Why We Never Visited the Elms (Poetry Pacific, 2022), On the Other Side of the Window (Pski’s Porch, 2019), and I Dream of Empathy (Flutter Press, 2015). Her poems have appeared in MacQueen’s Quinterly, Verse-Virtual, Poetry Breakfast, One Art, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Scurfpea Press’ anthology, Green Elephant, and Pure Slush’s anthology, Loss, among others. Her stories have appeared in Impspired and Mad Swirl. Maybe someday she’ll make it to Poland, one of the countries her father’s side of the family came from.
Manuel Renaud
France
The embrace of the Adagietto
This slow movement
Of my hands on your skin
Only the feeling
That gesture is a C
The caress of that chord
Which still for so long
In my heart will sound
Until silence… so far beyond
Until this infinite tenderness
This wordless song of love
The embrace of the Adagietto
The melodic line of your lips
That violin softly whispers
Those dumb sentences raising
These sounds getting through all the walls
Those frozen walls of our silences
These frostbitten lands of our distances
My orchestra’s good and beautiful friends
Like one heart, one tempo
All your bows for just an arrow
The embrace of the Adagietto
Harmony, there layed
That warm breath on your eyelids
Like this very first kiss
Notes alive taking flesh
Harp triolets in light
Sun, violas and cellos
Basses, last pizzicato
The embrace of the Adagietto
Manuel Renaud is a French poet and musician. His published works are mainly:
Des mots pour le voyage, Retour au centre du monde, Entre les braises (Anthologie poétique 2009/2022 ,Éd Inclinaison), Beatlemania (et autres contes véridiques), Éd Le Lys Bleu (Paris)
un voyage amoureux ,Éd J. Ouaknine and Beatlemania (and other real tales), Leaky Boot Press (U.K).
Shyamasri Maji
India
The Flute
Discord dazed the drum-beating sky
blemished is fair bride’s pursuit
Shravana showers filled the angry air
with paramour’s enticing flute
a sonic vigil now keeps her awake
by the sleeping man all night,
her desires darken the nuptial roof
like soot from an insipid light
Cadence of love’s luring strain
exudes harmony in illicit call
Like dolphins in restive Jamuna River
playful notes rise and fall
In her forlorn heart, the flute plays on,
drives her good senses away
The more she curses its alcoholic song
the more it croons ‘Rādhe, Rādhe’
The tune rings in her smiles and tears
Seasons limp like aging lightyears
In Vrindavan waits the old flute-player
for milkman’s bride, blemished and fair
Notes:
the flute: In his amorous incarnation, Lord Krishna plays the flute to call his eternal beloved Shri Radha.
Shravana— one of the monsoon months (July-August) in Indian calendar
‘Rādhe, Rādhe’: refers to Sri Radha. She was married to a milkman called Ayaan.
Vrindavan: city in the Mathura district, where Lord Krishna spent his early years
Shyamasri Maji lives in West Bengal, India. She writes poems, short stories, articles and book reviews, some of which have been published in reputed journals such as South Asian Review, Economic and Political Weekly, Indian Literature, Kitaab, Asian Review of Books, Outlook India Magazine, Setu and Cafe Dissensus. Her debut collection Forgive Me Dear Papa and Other Poems was published in December 2023.
Divyaasha Beeharee
Mauritius
Ultimate Gossip Queen of Emotions
In the wild dance of life, music takes the lead,
A sassy beat that makes us all stamp our feet.
From the sweet melodies that make us swoon,
To the funky tunes that make us want to groove.
Music, the ultimate gossip queen of emotions,
Whispers secrets in notes, causing commotions.
A catchy pop song or a classic ballad,
It’s like a good joke that leaves us all so glad.
So let the music spin, in its witty charm,
A clever melody that keeps us from harm.
For in its playful notes, we find our fun,
A witty companion, ’til the day is done.
A Timeless Symphony
In the symphony of life, music plays its part,
A melody of emotions that stirs the heart.
From the soft whispers of a gentle breeze,
To the thunderous beats that make us freeze.
Music, a language that transcends all bounds,
In its harmonies, the soul truly resounds.
A lullaby to soothe a troubled mind,
Or a powerful anthem that leaves us aligned.
From classical sonatas to modern tunes so bright,
Music weaves a tapestry of colours in the night.
Each note a brushstroke in a painting divine,
Guiding us through feelings, like a lifeline.
The rhythm of life, set to a beat so pure,
Music’s power and magic, forever endure.
It dances in our veins, a universal song,
Uniting hearts, where we all belong.
So let the music play, in its wondrous grace,
A timeless symphony, in every time and space.
For in its melodies, we find our true voices,
A gift from above, in which we all rejoice.
Divyaasha Beeharee, born on June 7th, 1988, is not only driven by her own dreams but also aims to fulfil the aspirations of her late eldest sister and late father. Her mother and sisters, who are her ardent supporters, inspire and motivate her every step of the way. Divyaasha’s love for nature is evident as she finds solace in spending time at the beach and admiring breathtaking sunsets.
Writing has been a passion since her school days, and she has always excelled in creating stories that leave a lasting impact. Divyaasha pursued her education in Journalism and Mass Communication, earning both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree.
With her strong foundation, she ventured into the field as a content writer, honing her skills and gaining valuable experience. However, her ultimate goal is to become a novelist, where she can fully express her creativity and captivate readers with her storytelling.
In addition to her passion for writing, Divyaasha has already made a mark in the literary world. With more than 5 anthologies in her bag, she has showcased her talent and creativity. Currently, she is working on two new books, pouring her heart and soul into these upcoming projects.
Melissa Chappell
USA
I Love
I love, although my love fails
to relate the thrombic longings
within me, the profound pulses
of blue-veined affections that my
poor fingers cannot yet entice these
bronzed strings to yield.
The world is flat-backed, and I
hold it against me as a lover,
the deep universe vibrating
against me, lovingly, in spite of
me as I gently, sometimes more
eagerly, trip along the strings…
Sometimes offending him by
pressing the wrong string,
sometimes disappointing him by
my hesitancy, by not following
my desire to follow where the
music goes. And thus, the fracture
between us. Yet he is there, day
by day, waiting for my awkward
touch, my beautiful guitar, so much
wiser than I. The sounds that emerge
from his body on sunlit days are
sometimes round and amber. Other
times the diminishing cracks offer
just enough room for
grace.
Melissa. A. Chappell is a writer native to South Carolina, where she leads a rural lifestyle. She gains much inspiration from the forests, fields, birds and wildflowers. In addition to writing, she plays the guitar and the piano. She plans one day to visit the southwestern United States.
Vatsala Radhakeesoon
Mauritius
Singer-Muse
The sun-gloss
The rain-tears
The wind-whispers
The ground-metallic
reality
all nestle in
your guitar’s fountain-spring
Scars of heartbreaks
Mist of insomniac nights
Ephemeral euphoric unexplained
Burnt in the rivers of ups and downs
or toying the drown-float games
The battles go on
Yet, you smile
The songs flow, diffuse, echo
here, there, in the universe
for your soul-truth
for your life-fire, your true essence
for you being You
and me being Me
My Love!
Piano-beams
Come!
Waltz with me
under the moon-tunes
Catch
the violet shimmers of the stars
Listen
to the scarlet of my lips
Let me
rest on your shoulder
the anchor of my dreams
craving desirable reality unveiled!
Let the keys
play the black and white
I’ll paint them
with some Art
But surely, let it
transcend the mundane-physical
Reach my soul,
the wholesomeness undenied!
Music!
I’m all yours.
Vatsala Radhakeesoon has been writing poems for more 30 years and she is the author of numerous poetry books. She is also an abstract artist and likes to experiment various possibilities that bless Art.
Vatsala is a literary translator and currently lives at Rose-Hill, Mauritius.
Poet’s blog link related to her books:
https://booksbyvatsalaradhakeesoon.wordpress.com
Linda Imbler (Musician)
Photo credit : Mike Imbler
World Music Day is celebrated each year on 21 June.
Music plays an important role in our lives as it is a means of artistic expression evoking deep emotions from the heart, mind and the complex subconscious.
I invite all poets and musicians to submit a maximum of 2 creative works to:
vatsfrankness@gmail.com
Poetry
All poems should be in English. Theme: Music
40 lines maximum
Music
Instrumental music or songs in any language will be accepted as videos.
If your work is accepted, you will receive an acceptance e-mail within 1 week of your submission. If you do not hear from me within 1 week, then your poem or song/music hasn’t made through this time.
Deadline: 15 June 2024
All accepted works will be published on my blog:
https://vatsalaradwritingworld.home.blog
Thank you!
Vatsala Radhakeesoon
Organizer/Writer/Poet/Artist
Dylan Thomas
Photo credit: Nora Summers; copyright, Gabriel Summers
More than Words
(by Vatsala Radhakeesoon, writer/poet, organizer)
No celebration is complete without the power of music. Thus, Music gives a deeper dimension to Dylan Thomas Day as well.
Thank you to all singers who have submitted their creative works for this literary event.
Here are some songs about Dylan Thomas:
Giles Matthews
Wales
Son of the Wave
Robert Lloyd
Australia
In my craft or sullen Art (Dylan Thomas’s poem sung)
Poem:
In my Craft or Sullen Art
In my craft or sullen art
Exercised in the still night
When only the moon rages
And the lovers lie abed
With all their griefs in their arms,
I labour by singing light
Not for ambition or bread
Or the strut and trade of charms
On the ivory stages
But for the common wages
Of their most secret heart.
Not for the proud man apart
From the raging moon I write
On these spindrift pages
Nor for the towering dead
With their nightingales and psalms
But for the lovers, their arms
Round the griefs of the ages,
Who pay no praise or wages
Nor heed my craft or art.
Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)
Dylan Thomas
Photo credit: Nora Summers; copyright, Gabriel Summers
Professor Tony Curtis
Wales
Extract from My Life with Dylan Thomas
by Tony Curtis
Every time we drive down to our house in Lydstep we stop in Carmarthen and park in that large car-park where my junior school Pentrepoeth had stood, or sometimes in the multi-storey next to the new Debenham’s. My parents had pulled some strings to get me into that school; I should have gone to The Model School off Catherine Street, where my father and uncle had gone and where Dylan’ father DJ Thomas had been taught before his successful entry to the University of Aberystwyth.
From the top floor of Debenham’s car-park I can look down on Pentrefelin Street and the back garden of the house where I was born. Next door-but-one and also a few doors further along were two families of coracle fishermen, one called the Thomas Dwr. They would have been the background characters as Dylan’s Grandpa was asked:
“And what do you think you are doing on Carmarthen bridge in the middle of the afternoon… with your best waistcoat and your old hat?”
Grandpa did not answer, but inclined his face to the river wind, so that his beard was set dancing and wagging as though he talked, and watched the coracle men move, like turtles, on the shore. ‘I am going to Llangadock to be buried.’ And he watched the coracle shells slip into the water lightly, and the gulls complain over the fish-filled water…’There’s no sense in lying dead in Llanstephan.’”
On a fine autumn day in 1995 we attended a brief ceremony of the interment of Glyn Jones’s ashes in the church of St Stephen on the Towy estuary; Glyn was a deeply serious man with an irrepressible twinkling humour; he saw every sense in lying dead in Llanstephan and was smiling over us that day.
-*-
On our journeys to Pembrokeshire we invariably stop for coffee in the first-floor Café Revive of M&S in Carmarthen. Looking out of the window at the pedestrianized street with its Boots and Clarks shoe shop I can’t help but see the ghost of Nelson’s Garage where my father worked after the war and through the decade of the 1950s. The other side of the street behind the bland and uniform retail units, in a lane now gone, he had his workshop where my mother and I would sometimes visit; he’d be there with dismantled electric car parts, repaired not simply discarded and replaced in those days, and the Sorcerers’ sinister large glass containers of battery acid with their acrid and biting tang. Oh, and always an unconscious Woodbine at his lips. This workshop was on Shaw’s Lane close to The Stag’s Head and the Nelson Hotel; it may well have been on the spot where the Ladbroke’s Bookies is now. Just up Lammas Street at the end of the lane is The Boar’s Head regularly frequented (as were many of the town’s myriad pubs) by Dylan on his way from Laugharne to the rest of the world. Lammas Street which in “A Visit to Grandpa’s” is where the young Dylan and his Grandpa’s neighbours “rattled down” in their search for the old man, gone missing from Llanstephan. At The Boar’s Head before the war Augustus John had punched Dylan and left him on the road while he drove off with Caitlin to bed her in Laugharne. On the eighth of October, 1953, it was at The Whore’s Bed, as he re-named the hotel, that Dylan took his last drink in west Wales before catching the train to London and the plane to New York.
From my father’s work-shop on our way back home to Pentrefelin Street we’d make our way up Lammas Street towards Brian the Butcher’s whose plump breasts, splayed legs and firm sausages were carefully weighted and wrapped as double entendres. It is a sunny autumn day with candy floss clouds and not a hint of rain from the west. As we pass the Boar’s Head Hotel a man emerges, half-stumbling, loudly proclaiming in mid-sentence, “…Carmarthen, Carmarthen, on my pennyfarthen’…” and my mother takes my hand more firmly and pulls me a little too quickly down the street.
For further details about the author please click on the link below:
http://www.tonycurtispoet.com/
Dylan Thomas
Photo credit: Nora Summers; copyright, Gabriel Summers
Celebrating International Dylan Thomas Day 2024 in Colours
by Vatsala Radhakeesoon (Writer/poet/artist/Organizer)
International Dylan Thomas Day is celebrated each year on 14th May. This date marks the anniversary of the reading of Dylan Thomas’s popular play Under Milk Wood for the first time in New York in 1953.
This event aims at bringing people of all artistic fields on a single platform by expressing their appreciation for Dylan Thomas’s writings.
So, I am glad to feature the works of some artists inspired by the words of that unique Welsh poet.
Many thanks to those artists!
Hope Art-lovers will appreciate the following paintings:
Gianpiero Actis
Italy
Dylan Thomas -Portrait
Acrylic on canvas board
40 x30 cm
Gianpiero Actis is the co-founder (with Aeronwy Thomas – Dylan Thomas’ daughter) of the art-literary movement “Immagine & Poesia”, and he often offers his artworks as “responses” to poems of different writers.
His artworks are in permanent exhibitions / collections in Italy and abroad (Promotrice delle Belle Arti, Torino /Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea Wales, /Musée de Huy, Belgium)
Innovation and deep cultural background are the main features of his artworks
https://gianpieroactis.jimdofree.com
Gloria Fu Keh
Singapore
Light on Tomorrow
Watercolour on Arches paper
A4
Gloria Keh, 72, began painting since childhood. Her late father, Martin Fu, an oil painter, was her first art teacher. She studied mandala art and symbolism at the Theosophical Society in Melbourne, Australia, for over 10 years and undertook a short course in art therapy in Singapore.
In 2008, Gloria founded Circles of Love, a non profit charity outreach program, using her art in the service to humanity.
She has participated in over 150 art exhibitions. These include Art Expo New York, Shanghai Art Fair, Affordable Art Fairs in Hong Kong and Singapore, Art Basel Red Dot Miami, Contemporary London, Paris Art Fair 2021 & 2022, Tokyo International Art Fair 2021, several biennales in Italy and at the MEAM Barcelona.
Ten solo exhibitions:
Gallery Steiner (Vienna, Austria); three solos in Singapore; Yukyung Art Museum /Haegeumgang Theme Museum, the Daesan Art Museum and the Yeosu Art Museum in South Korea (2022); at The Kil Hwan Chang Art Museum (2023) South Korea; in Taipei, Taiwan (2023) and in the Philippines (2023).
She Won over 20 international art awards including the ATIM Top 60 Masters art award 2020 in New York.
Ruben Molina Perez
Venezuela
The ship
Acrylic on canvas
35 cm x 30 cm
RUBEN ANTONIO MOLINA PEREZ was born in Barinitas Venezuela on October 23, 1969; He got a Bachelor of Education degree with a mention in cultural development at the Simón Rodríguez Experimental University. He has worked as a teacher in the areas of drawing, painting and printed systems in various institutions such as the Neumann Design Institute in Caracas, Venezuela. His works have been exhibited both locally and internationally. Through his Art, he has contributed to various social and environmental events intended to fight for good causes.
Krishav Swarit Sanayasi
Mauritius
Life beyond Sunset
Acrylic on pebble
11 cm x 7 cm
Krishav Sanayasi is a 10-year-old boy, who has discovered his passion for Art from the age of 5. He likes painting, crafting and inventing gadgets of which he makes instructional videos. To-date, he has done 80 paintings. He has participated in many art contests, both at national and international level and he has won most of them. He has illustrated the French children’s book, L’oiseau de mauvais augure of Mauritian author, Amarnath Hosany and he has also contributed as an artist in the Mauritian anthology , Lire , une anthologie internatinale ,edited by writer, Issa Asgarally .
Lidia Chiarelli
Italy
Tribute to Dylan Thomas
Digital Collage printed on canvas
from an original photo by Nora Summers
40 x 30 cm
Lidia Chiarelli (Torino, Italy). Writer and Artist, co-founder, with Aeronwy Thomas, of the art-literary Movement Immagine & Poesia (2007). Award -winning poet. Six nominations to Pushcart Prize, USA. Literary Arts Medal (NY) 2020. KEL winner’s plaque 2022. Her poems are translated and published in many languages.
https://lidiachiarelli.jimdofree.com
Vatsala Radhakeesoon Poetry, Prose, Translated Works 