Musicalirious

”The only truth is music.” – Jack Kerouac


~ inspired by the images – envisioned in a jazz scatt vocal style ~

 

Oh spirits
of the toned wood
and taut tuned twine
come to me

be with me
play for me
talk to me
knock me out

whisper
in a resonant breath
about the chordal’d structure
of harmonic truth

tell me about
the wirebirds
of violaville
in the tenth world

taunt me
in a flurry
of rhythmic dissonance

of sizzling
scalded jazz

free me from this tiny
box of lies
lift this veil
from off my eyes

deliver me from this
life in a bottle

let me throw wide my heart
to release my soul

tell me how
to get to dreamland

to cotton avenue
on a hot off-night
back-street in jericho

rise from your knees
reveal your mysteries

tell me of the fires
on paprika plains
that consumed your souls
a’top lustful fretboard pyres
in tempos of immortality

that made you dance
at midnight
wrapped in
the silky veils of ardor
on prurient
smoldered embers

see — I remember

I want to go
I am ready

an inferno burns
inside me

desire rages strong
to rise in musicality
ride’n the bliss of rhythm
fervor’d in song
spotlessly syncopated

totally musicalirious

father downbeat
bang the drum
I am your snaredrum son

your lifeblood
courses through me
hammers in my temples
sets my soul ablaze

impassioned
I will prowl
the shadow’d haunts
of beal street
searching hard
for a secret lover

alight me lyrical
perched talon to key
on a moonlit eighty eight

aflame
with the creole spices
of the quartier français

following your ghosts
in second line lockstep
down bourbon sidewalks
in a gumbo’d swing

let me be loosed
in the beautiful
ethereal world
of love and music
inhabited by Aurora
if I can truly deserve
an earthly angel’s presence

all while seeking
don jaun’s reckless daughter

my scarlet jezebel
my nocturne angel
my torchsong diva

to take me
in a 3-4 fever

at sunset
strip me down
to the bleeding beat

or whirl me ‘round
to burn me down
to nashvillian dobro’d ash

charted forever
in the wild ivory winds
and rimshot rains
of reverberant recall

come

take me now
back to those precious
percussive peaks
of taut rockin’ riffdom
dangerclad
and streetsmart

carnal dark seraph
I’m eager ’n itchin’

come to me

*
rob kistner © 2023

Poetry at: The Sunday Muse

More poetry at: dVerse

OLN poetry at: dVerse

 




40 thoughts on “Musicalirious”

    1. Thank you Sherry. I try to string the visuals together, shuffling the oder, and editing, until a story line appears for me — then I translate it poetically. Visual prompts are by far my favorite type of prompt. Also, the game of matching to a preconceived form, feels somewhat repressive to me — because in general I chase ideas, formats are usually secondary in my world of joy. Sometimes I enjoy chasing a form the way I sometimes enjoy doing a puzzle. Also, the foundation I have built writing poetry on is the same as I use writing lyrics to a song — which I have done since I was 16-years-old. The foundation is heavily emotional and inquiringly conceptual.

      Reply

  5. From Musicalirious to the chordal’d structure
    of harmonic truth and on to the Boss …. my word, did I LOVE this epic work.

    Reply

    1. Thank you Helen. Lately I been getting drawn into these larger works. I think because my life is gttting smaller and smaller. I think if I just keep writing I won’t have to think about Kathy’s cancer?

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  7. Powerful poem of what you love so deeply. I am in awe of the fact that you wrote to all the images, and were successful!

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  9. This is one of your best full of raw vibrational energy. I cannot pinpoint a favorite part as it is clearly a wondrous poetic journey.

    I truly admire how your mind wanders.

    Keep on rockin’ the poetry !!!!

    Reply

    1. Thank you True… 🙂 I wrote this piece the way I’d ad’lib ‘scatt’ following lyrical phrases of a song, usually some smokey jazz/rock piece. The line in the song may have been: “I love you baby, but I don’t understand how to make you happy.” Immediately following the lyrical break, I might scatt out “tell me how to get to dreamland girl, to cotton avenue, on a ~bop-bop~ hot off-night back-street in Jericho wirld — rise from your knees, reveal your mysteries – pleazze”. My band would hear me go off on a scatt and they would improvise in tempo and chord under my scatt, then we would all eventually resolve back to the song, as it is written. I would usually scatt once or twice more in the song. I would do the scatt in a rhythmic, expressive, talking voice, even mix in some meaningless percussive sound patterns. The scatt may be abstract, but it would accent the feeling and genersl meaning of the song, maybe even heralding back to lines I’d already sang. or ahead to lines I would sing later — so there was a conceptual thread to it. Early rap borrowed from the spirit of scatt. … …I lovvvved to scatt. 😉

      Reply

      1. Hi Rob

        Thank you for sharing the process of your craft. I always found it interesting when artists would add a bit of their thoughts in a piece. With live performances you have the ability to go off on a side journey. I am sure your audience loved your organic (scatt) When I am listening to a song sometimes a word or phrase will get my mind going. Then I develop a hook .. and the hook haunts me until I come up with some verses…haha damn mind is on 24/7 my friend. Its already spinning on ‘take me to the dreamland’ hmm you may have inspired something there…

        Thanks for sharing ….

        Reply

        1. My pleasure True! My mind goes 19/7 because it only lets me sleep 4-5 hours a night. My circadian rhythms are still set to the same night schedule as the years I’d gig 4-5 nights a week. I am NEVER tired before 4-5 AM. I still wake at around 10:00 AM. It was somewhat of a challenge for me those years I worked for Lucasfilm LTD. I traveled a lot, so I could set my road meetings a little later. But when I was in my office at Skywalker Ranch, it was 9:00 AM at the conference table. When I wasn’t traveling for George, I only had to be at the Ranch tues-thurs, because I lived in Portland, OR, and commuted by United Airlines — living in the Embassy Suites when I down was in San Rafael.

    1. Thank you Punam, and no problem. I’m old, sometimes the intended direction I was heading, just drops outta my focus, while I begin chasing a new thread that presented itself to me. Glad you dug it… 🙂

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  13. An epic poem, Rob, that took me on an amazing musical journey! Some great use of alliteration and other sound words really brought it to life. I especially like the ‘sizzling scalded jazz’ and ‘lustful fretboard pyres’.

    Reply

  17. Brilliant Rob, sounds like jazz to me, captures that feeling of being in a crowded bar on one of those nights when the band and the crowd are one! JIM

    Reply

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