Joined: 04 Feb 2005
Posts: 719
Location: North Carolina
3 things
i thought it might be kind of interesting to start a thread asking about what experiences in life influence your poetry most.
so with that said, if you care to share..name 3 things in your life, from past or present that find thier way into and influence your poetry most often. _________________ "to climb a moonbeam and search the stars to find us written where there is no ending"
Tue Jul 05, 2005 3:54 pm
Kira
Joined: 07 Jul 2005
Posts: 27
Location: Canada
Neat question, Fawnie. I'm not the best one to kick this off, but maybe the post went through the cracks...
In no particular order,
1. The experience of having tremendous love to give. Includes requited and unrequited romantic love, and gaining or losing someone special. I also mean the frustration of loving a world when it doesn't love back, or care to try.
2. Landscapes, particularly open spaces. Might come from growing up on the prairies, where skies are huge because you see them covering so much.
3. Music, mostly classical and folk. Grew up in a musical family so it's in the bones, which is to say below the surface.
...and 4. In all honesty, this web site. It's not a subject, or likely to be, but it's what got me going, and its openness is what keeps me going.
Kira
Tue Jul 26, 2005 12:50 am
Phoenix Moderators
Joined: 27 Jan 2005
Posts: 1664
Location: Tallahassee Florida
Excellent question.
1. Well, I think we all are inspired by gain and loss of love.. be it family, friends or lovers. So, that for me is a key one.
2. Spirituality is one that drives a lot of my poetry. Where I am, how I am struggling with detachment and letting go and trusting, and the flip side is when I see God/dess in everyday things and deep spiritual events as well.
3. Beauty and the plethora of ways it comes to me.
Kira, I highly recommend you check out amy steinberg since you like that kind of music. She is a mixture of folk,jazz,blues and a little rock... it is hard to describe really.
brat _________________ "A little work won't hurt you bad, but just in case I'm wrong, you'll be smiling when they pronounce you dead." Amanda Marshall 'This could take all night
Tue Jul 26, 2005 1:05 am
Kira
Joined: 07 Jul 2005
Posts: 27
Location: Canada
Brat,
Thanks so much for the Amy Steinberg tip. Checked out her website and now I'm REALLY curious! I'll happily return the favor if it ever comes up, though I'm best with classical.
Hugs,
Kira
Tue Jul 26, 2005 5:03 am
Phoenix Moderators
Joined: 27 Jan 2005
Posts: 1664
Location: Tallahassee Florida
Hey Kira,
I love arias. Have you heard the Norwegian Cecelia? She is great. I also love Vanessa Mae. I look forward to any tips.
smiles,
brat _________________ "A little work won't hurt you bad, but just in case I'm wrong, you'll be smiling when they pronounce you dead." Amanda Marshall 'This could take all night
Tue Jul 26, 2005 6:03 am
SWAY
Joined: 14 Apr 2005
Posts: 1560
Location: Upstate NY
3 things huh....
1. my mother's attempt on her own life when I was only 10. Just recently have I started to deal with it.
2. Love-good,bad, ugly, its all in there.
3.Death-I guess dealing with negative emotion and loss is a good jump starter for my writing. _________________ Giving myself to others has made me jaded...
Tue Jul 26, 2005 4:08 pm
Kira
Joined: 07 Jul 2005
Posts: 27
Location: Canada
Brat,
Feeling a bit odd about diverting a thread about something else onto music, so I'll add another inspiration for poetry first.
Witnessing pretense. Not a happy thing to see. But perhaps the act of coming out, or even thinking about it, heightens our awareness of people who fall unthinkingly in step with dogma, and thus refuse to look inside and be honest. I don't so much mean that honesty would find more gay people, though that's probably true (an insightful though horribly written book by Eve Sedgwick notes that the English literary canon is largely gay, something you never hear in school!), but that looking inside is what it's all about. Falling in step is fine if it comes as a result of honesty and soul searching, and the realization that the search is critical for everyone.
Was in a coffee shop one day plunking away on my laptop, and they started playing a CD I had to ask about. Voice of the Feminine Spirit, it turned out. Went from there to the record store. It was a discovery for me since I hadn't even heard of her, nor do I usually listen to quite that kind of music. But it sounded so pure, like a world we'd like to be able to live in.
I know Vanessa Mae by reputation mostly. A fine violinist for sure, and wonderfully eclectic. She tends more toward the pop end of things than I usually listen to among violinists. But I remember hearing her arrangement of Vivaldi (a slow movement from Winter?) that got my attention when I was in the midst of being tired of Vivaldi.
My hands-down favorite vocalist is Anne Sofie von Otter. Also amazingly eclectic (from lieder through opera to jazz, pop and christmas--one of my two favorite Christmas albums), though definitely heavy on the classical refinement end of things. I know her best in lieder, where her level of nuance goes deeper into the music than I've heard in anyone else. From the stuff you've mentioned, maybe the most accessible von Otter album is "For the Stars", where she teams up with Elvis Costello and company. I love the whole album, and am a complete, kleenex-weilding sucker for tracks 8, 11 and 17. 1 is great too.
Can go on for ages about pianists and symphonies...and celtic.
Singing,
Kira
Tue Jul 26, 2005 4:29 pm
Phoenix Moderators
Joined: 27 Jan 2005
Posts: 1664
Location: Tallahassee Florida
Oooooooh Celtic! My all time fav is Loreena Mckennitt. Talk about an amazing singer and musician.
Her Live in Toronto and Paris is my favorite.
Yes, I couldn't help going into the music once you shared. Oddly, it plays into this thread as there are songs by Loreena that stirs the poet in me. The Highwayman, Skellig, Solstice night can all get me in my right frame of mind to write. Cecelia can draw me into that spiritual place where I write of Goddess and am drawn to the beauty in the world.
Thanks,
brat _________________ "A little work won't hurt you bad, but just in case I'm wrong, you'll be smiling when they pronounce you dead." Amanda Marshall 'This could take all night
Tue Jul 26, 2005 8:10 pm
Kira
Joined: 07 Jul 2005
Posts: 27
Location: Canada
Loreena McKennitt, WOOHOO!! A favorite of mine too. To share a few more for fun, came across Grace Griffith a while back too--her haunting voice stopped me in my tracks. She was part of the celtic band Connemara before she went solo. (Then she got debilitated by Parkinsons, still in her 30s.) Also love Altan--the whole band, and especially Mairead's lead vocals. Also went wide-eyed over Tina Malia through and her debut album "Shores of Avalon". Can't wait for her second album to come. Also like Clannad, especially the earlier acoustic stuff while Enya was still with them. Also Jane Siberry....
On the topic of poetic inspiration, I'd love to hear from anyone who has experience writing songs. I've never done but long wanted to, and can't decide whether words or music are the guide. I've read some of the songs posted on Mels, and while the poetry's obviously there, I can't seem to figure them out with a tune.
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