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A writer uses a pen instead of a scalpel or blow torch.

quote by Michael Ondaatje
Added by Lucian Velea
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Guitar & Pen

Youre alone above the street somewhere
Youre alone above the street somewhere
Wondering how youll ever count out there
Wondering how youll ever count out there
You can walk, you can talk, you can fight
You can walk, you can talk, you can fight
But inside youve got something to write
But inside youve got something to write
In your hand you hold your only friend
In your hand you hold your only friend
Never spend your guitar or your pen
Never spend your guitar or your pen
Your guitar or your pen
Your guitar or your pen
Your guitar or your pen
Your guitar or your pen
Your guitar or your pen
Your guitar or your pen
Your guitar or your pen
Your guitar or your pen
When you take up a pencil and sharpen it up
When you take up a pencil and sharpen it up
When youre kicking the fence and still nothing will budge
When youre kicking the fence and still nothing will budge
When the words are immobile until you sit down
When the words are immobile until you sit down
Never feel theyre worth keeping, theyre not easily found
Never feel theyre worth keeping, theyre not easily found
Then you know in some strange, unexplainable way
Then you know in some strange, unexplainable way
You must really have something
You must really have something
Jumping, thumping, fighting, hiding away
Jumping, thumping, fighting, hiding away
Important to say
Important to say
When you sing through the verse and you end in a scream
When you sing through the verse and you end in a scream
And you swear and you curse cause the rhyming aint clean
And you swear and you curse cause the rhyming aint clean
But it suddenly comes after years of delay
But it suddenly comes after years of delay
You pick up your guitar, you can suddenly play
You pick up your guitar, you can suddenly play
When your fingers are bleeding and the knuckles are white
When your fingers are bleeding and the knuckles are white
Then you can be sure, you can open the door
Then you can be sure, you can open the door
Get off of the floor tonight
Get off of the floor tonight

[...] Read more

song performed by Who
Added by Lucian Velea
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Paperback Writer

(LennonMcCartney)
Paperback writer
Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book?
It took me years to write, will you take a look?
It's based on a novel by a man named Lear
And I need a job, so I want to be a paperback writer
Paperback writer
It's the dirty story of a dirty man
And his clinging wife doesn't understand
His son is working for the Daily Mail
It's a steady job but he wants to be a paperback writer
Paperback writer
Paperback writer
It's a thousand pages, give or take a few
I'll be writing more in a week or two
I can make it longer if you like the style
I can change it round and I want to be a paperback writer
Paperback writer
If you really like it you can have the rights
It could make a million for you overnight
If you must return it, you can send it here
But I need a break and I want to be a paperback writer
Paperback writer
Paperback writer
Paperback writer, paperback writer
Paperback writer, paperback writer
Paperback writer, paperback writer
Paperback writer, paperback writer (fade out)

song performed by Paul McCartney
Added by Lucian Velea
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Blow By Blow

Written by dave mason, john cesario, and mark holden.
Its always something
Or it aint nothing at all
Its feast or famine
Too hot or out in the cold
So here we stand
Alone together
Our backs against the wall
If my heart wasnt in it
I wouldnt be here at all
Blow by blow
Well its blow by blow
And here we go again
(here we go again)
Well its blow by blow
Coming off the ropes
And fighting for the hope in us all
Are you in my corner
Or playing both sides of the wall
So make a stand
Its now or never
Cause life is much too short
And if your heart isnt in it
You shouldnt be here at all
Blow by blow
Well its blow by blow
And here we go again
(here we go again)
Well its blow by blow
Blow by blow
Well its blow by blow
Im back on my feet again
(Im back on my feet again)
Well its blow by blow
I can almost see through the tears
And Ive got my pride
The dreams that Ive hidden for years
Just wont be denied
So here we stand
Alone together
Our backs against the wall
If my heart wasnt in it
I wouldnt be here at all
Blow by blow
Well its blow by blow
And here we go again
(here we go again)
Well its blow by blow
Blow by blow
Well its blow by blow

[...] Read more

song performed by Fleetwood Mac
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Carrying A Torch

Im carryin a torch for you
Im carryin a torch
You know how much it costs
To keep carryin a torch
Flame of love it burns so bright
That is my desire
Keep on liftin me, liftin me up
Higher and higher
Youre the keeper of the flame
And you burn so bright
Baby why dont we re-connect
Move into the light
Ive been going to and fro on this
And Im still carryin a torch
You must know how much its worth
When Im carryin a torch (alright)
Baby youre the keeper of the flame
And you burn so bright
Why, why, why, why, why, why dont we re-connect
And move on further, into the light
Ive been calling you on the phone
'cause Im carryin a torch (yeah)
I can do it all on my own
'cause Im carryin a torch
Im carryin a torch for you, baby
Im carryin a torch
You know how much its worth
Because Im carryin a torch (one more)
Im carryin a torch for you, baby
Im carryin a torch
You know how much its worth
Because Im carryin a torch.

song performed by Van Morrison
Added by Lucian Velea
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Blow Me A Kiss

Take one in the leg [Think about your baby]
Take one in the side [Think about your girl]
Take one in the head [Think about your mother]
Take one in the heart [It's the end of the world]

So blow me a kiss cuz I'm black
Blow me a kiss cuz I'm gay
Blow me a kiss cuz I'm shakin'
Say goodnight then blow me away
Blow me away
Blow me away
Tell me what you're thinkin' tell me why
Blow me a kiss then blow me away

Take one in the face [Think about your life]
Take one in the eye [Think about your soul]
Take one in the mouth [Think about your savior]
Take one in the thigh [Are you ready to go]

So blow me a kiss cuz I'm lonely
Blow me a kiss cuz I'm afraid
Blow me a kiss cuz you don't know me
Say goodnight then blow me away
Blow me away
Blow me away
Tell me what you're thinkin' tell me why

I'm in my room I'm Dr. Doom
Cuz I'm not me I'm someone else
Why should you die don't ask me why
You know it you know it you know it
Blow me away

I turn the page I am the rage
I'm coming from a darker place
A much darker place
So blow me away
Blow me away

Yeah blow me away
Tell me what you're thinkin' tell me why
Blow me a kiss then blow me away
Yeah blow me away
C'mon and blow me away
Tell me what you're thinkin' tell me why
Blow me a kiss then blow me away

song performed by Alice Cooper from Brutal Planet
Added by Lucian Velea
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Diggy Down

[Chorus]
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down, down (blow)
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down, down (blow)
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down, down (blow)
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down, down (blow)
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down
[LL Cool J]
Diggedy down, down just look around, my world is goin' down
Disease is spreadin' everywhere, I can-cannot be found
This, the season for murder - isn't no reason
to hurt another brother but temptation is so pleasin'
And every alley-way, they're gettin' high
On playgrounds they're sellin' crack and every day another baby dies
Pistol whippin', kidnappin', anything can happen
Diggedy down, diggedy down with Old Trafford
[Chorus]
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down, down (blow)
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down, down (blow)
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down, down (blow)
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down, down (blow)
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down
[LL Cool J]
Young people, with no education, politicians, deny and segregation
Young infants, deserted and abandoned
Step parents, lack in understandin'
Homelessness, all across the land, war, man against man
Treachery and evil fillin' our communities
and all these hypocrites, aiyyo, they're stealin' from our charities
[Chorus]
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down, down (blow)
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down, down (blow)
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down, down (blow)
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down, down (blow)
Down, down, diggy, diggy, down
People are gettin' hurt, people are gettin' hurt up
People are gettin' done, people are gettin' done up (we gotta rise)
People are gettin' hurt, people are gettin' hurt up
People are gettin' done, people are gettin' done up (we gotta rise)
People are gettin' hurt, people are gettin' hurt up
People are gettin' done, people are gettin' done up (we gotta rise)
People are gettin' hurt, people are gettin' hurt up

[...] Read more

song performed by LL Cool J
Added by Lucian Velea
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Blow Your Whistle

PETEY PABLO - Blow Your Whistle
[Intro:]
Hey hey! Everybody come here, I need all y'all to come over here
Come here come here, yeah, I want you to do this, come on
[Chorus:] [2x]
Blow ya whistle! Blow ya whistle!
Blow ya whistles for me y'all!
I said if you wanna bizzle then you can let a nizzle
to blow ya whistle from Petey Pizzle to come on anda...
[Verse 1:]
I can do anything and everything with new flows
Then take this Manny track and tear the game a new asshole
Me and my do-rag half man, with two black hoes
How in the world could it do this, I be so damn cold
I got a rabbit foot in my pocket, uh huh
Come on I needed the other part of the rabbit
To fill up a pocket, I gotta major problem partna
So that means I don't need to be bothered for nada
Um, feel me dogga
My head hot, uh huh, and my body warm
Uh huh, my nose runnin, could you close the door, uh huh
Letting out all granted and goodies sweet G's and deviled eggs
Boiled tater to goat cheese
Y'all don't even remember me
I'm Petey - take ya shirt off Carolina from Greenborough
But what Petey needs to see this evening
You can keep your shirt on - we gon' use these
[Chorus:]
Blow ya whistle! Blow ya whistle!
Blow ya whistles for me y'all!
I said if you wanna bizzle then you can let a nizzle
to blow ya whistle from Petey Pizzle to come on anda...
[Verse 2:]
I tell ya when I come runnin head down, but naw
But naw, y'all ain't hit me
So I guess I had to ahead hit ya with something that could grip yo attention
That make ya yell at ya kids from the kitchen
What put that whistle down! But Petey on tv
Damn it Petey, ya heard what I say
I just love it when I could take a track and have me some fun
Get footloose, and still can put the club on crunk
Make a girl butt bump [ba bum], make a party go crazy, [ba bum]
When the first two bumps come on [ba bum]
I'ma have some, I'm telling ya mayne
I'm the new spokesman for gas grills and propane
When I wrote this I had to wear shades
I had to wear rubber gloves to get this today
Manny Fresh's CD player wasn't even playin
Man we need a fire truck, where my whistle at baby
[Chorus:]

[...] Read more

song performed by Petey Pablo
Added by Lucian Velea
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English Bards and Scotch Reviewers: A Satire

'I had rather be a kitten, and cry mew!
Than one of these same metre ballad-mongers'~Shakespeare

'Such shameless bards we have; and yet 'tis true,
There are as mad, abandon'd critics too,'~Pope.

Still must I hear? -- shall hoarse Fitzgerald bawl
His creaking couplets in a tavern hall,
And I not sing, lest, haply, Scotch reviews
Should dub me scribbler, and denounce my muse?
Prepare for rhyme -- I'll publish, right or wrong:
Fools are my theme, let satire be my song.

O nature's noblest gift -- my grey goose-quill!
Slave of my thoughts, obedient to my will,
Torn from thy parent bird to form a pen,
That mighty instrument of little men!
The pen! foredoom'd to aid the mental throes
Of brains that labour, big with verse or prose,
Though nymphs forsake, and critics may deride,
The lover's solace, and the author's pride.
What wits, what poets dost thou daily raise!
How frequent is thy use, how small thy praise!
Condemn'd at length to be forgotten quite,
With all the pages which 'twas thine to write.
But thou, at least, mine own especial pen!
Once laid aside, but now assumed again,
Our task complete, like Hamet's shall be free;
Though spurn'd by others, yet beloved by me:
Then let us soar today, no common theme,
No eastern vision, no distemper'd dream
Inspires -- our path, though full of thorns, is plain;
Smooth be the verse, and easy be the strain.

When Vice triumphant holds her sov'reign sway,
Obey'd by all who nought beside obey;
When Folly, frequent harbinger of crime,
Bedecks her cap with bells of every clime;
When knaves and fools combined o'er all prevail,
And weigh their justice in a golden scale;
E'en then the boldest start from public sneers,
Afraid of shame, unknown to other fears,
More darkly sin, by satire kept in awe,
And shrink from ridicule, though not from law.

Such is the force of wit! but not belong
To me the arrows of satiric song;
The royal vices of our age demand
A keener weapon, and a mightier hand.

[...] Read more

poem by Byron
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The Writer's Dream

A writer wrote of the hearts of men, and he followed their tracks afar;
For his was a spirit that forced his pen to write of the things that are.
His heart grew tired of the truths he told, for his life was hard and grim;
His land seemed barren, its people cold—yet the world was dear to him;—
So he sailed away from the Streets of Strife, he travelled by land and sea,
In search of a people who lived a life as life in the world should be.
And he reached a spot where the scene was fair, with forest and field and wood,
And all things came with the seasons there, and each of its kind was good;
There were mountain-rivers and peaks of snow, there were lights of green and gold,
And echoing caves in the cliffs below, where a world-wide ocean rolled.
The lives of men from the wear of Change and the strife of the world were free—
For Steam was barred by the mountain-range and the rocks of the Open Sea.

And the last that were born of a noble race—when the page of the South was fair—
The last of the conquered dwelt in peace with the last of the victors there.
He saw their hearts with the author’s eyes who had written their ancient lore,
And he saw their lives as he’d dreamed of such—ah! many a year before.
And ‘I’ll write a book of these simple folk ere I to the world return,
‘And the cold who read shall be kind for these—and the wise who read shall learn.

‘Never again in a song of mine shall a jarring note be heard:
‘Never again shall a page or line be marred by a bitter word;
‘But love and laughter and kindly hours will the book I’ll write recall,
‘With chastening tears for the loss of one, and sighs for their sorrows all.
‘Old eyes will light with a kindly smile, and the young eyes dance with glee—
‘And the heart of the cynic will rest awhile for my simple folk and me.’

The lines ran on as he dipped his pen—ran true to his heart and ear—
Like the brighter pages of memory when every line is clear.
The pictures came and the pictures passed, like days of love and light—
He saw his chapters from first to last, and he thought it grand to write.
And the writer kissed his girlish wife, and he kissed her twice for pride:
‘’Tis a book of love, though a book of life! and a book you’ll read!’ he cried.

He was blind at first to each senseless slight (for shabby and poor he came)
From local ‘Fashion’ and mortgaged pride that scarce could sign its name.
What dreamer would dream of such paltry pride in a scene so fresh and fair?
But the local spirit intensified—with its pitiful shams—was there;
There were cliques wherever two houses stood (no rest for a family ghost!)
They hated each other as women could—but they hated the stranger most.

The writer wrote by day and night and he cried in the face of Fate—
‘I’ll cleave to my dream of life in spite of the cynical ghosts that wait.
‘’Tis the shyness born of their simple lives,’ he said to the paltry pride—
(The homely tongues of the simple wives ne’er erred on the generous side)—
‘They’ll prove me true and they’ll prove me kind ere the year of grace be passed,’
But the ignorant whisper of ‘axe to grind!’ went home to his heart at last.

The writer sat by his drift-wood fire three nights of the South-east gale,
His pen lay idle on pages vain, for his book was a fairy tale.

[...] Read more

poem by Henry Lawson
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Paper And Pen

Paper and pen
Trying to write a song again
Paper and pen
Paper and pen

Paper and pen
Trying to write a song again
Paper and pen
Paper and pen

Can’t think of anything to say today
Can’t think of anything to do
Can’t think of anything to play today
Minds gone blank
Leaving me here, just sitting here
Listening to my hair grow

Paper and pen
Paper and pen

And I look towards you
For an inspiration or a word or two
I try but I find
Every road only leads me back to these lines

Paper and pen
Paper and pen

Paper and pen
Piano, guitar
I try but don't get very far
Paper and pen
Piano, guitar

Paper and pen
Trying to write a song again
Paper and pen
Paper and pen

Copyright Colin Coplin 1985 / 2010

poem by Colin Coplin
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Hero And Leander. The Sixth Sestiad

No longer could the Day nor Destinies
Delay the Night, who now did frowning rise
Into her throne; and at her humorous breasts
Visions and Dreams lay sucking: all men's rests
Fell like the mists of death upon their eyes,
Day's too-long darts so kill'd their faculties.
The Winds yet, like the flowers, to cease began;
For bright Leucote, Venus' whitest swan,
That held sweet Hero dear, spread her fair wings,
Like to a field of snow, and message brings
From Venus to the Fates, t'entreat them lay
Their charge upon the Winds their rage to stay,
That the stern battle of the seas might cease,
And guard Leander to his love in peace.
The Fates consent;--ay me, dissembling Fates!
They showed their favours to conceal their hates,
And draw Leander on, lest seas too high
Should stay his too obsequious destiny:
Who like a fleering slavish parasite,
In warping profit or a traitorous sleight,
Hoops round his rotten body with devotes,
And pricks his descant face full of false notes;
Praising with open throat, and oaths as foul
As his false heart, the beauty of an owl;
Kissing his skipping hand with charmed skips,
That cannot leave, but leaps upon his lips
Like a cock-sparrow, or a shameless quean
Sharp at a red-lipp'd youth, and naught doth mean
Of all his antic shows, but doth repair
More tender fawns, and takes a scatter'd hair
From his tame subject's shoulder; whips and calls
For everything he lacks; creeps 'gainst the walls
With backward humbless, to give needless way:
Thus his false fate did with Leander play.
First to black Eurus flies the white Leucote
(Born 'mongst the negroes in the Levant sea,
On whose curl'd heads the glowing sun doth rise),
And shows the sovereign will of Destinies,
To have him cease his blasts; and down he lies.
Next, to the fenny Notus course she holds,
And found him leaning, with his arms in folds,
Upon a rock, his white hair full of showers;
And him she chargeth by the fatal powers,
To hold in his wet cheeks his cloudy voice.
To Zephyr then that doth in flowers rejoice:
To snake-foot Boreas next she did remove,
And found him tossing of his ravished love,
To heat his frosty bosom hid in snow;
Who with Leucote's sight did cease to blow.
Thus all were still to Hero's heart's desire;

[...] Read more

poem by George Chapman
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Grey Lady Of The Sea

(lebon)
Youve whispered out loud
But your breeze doesnt bend
Were lying in the palm of your hand
No land we see, no place to be
The salt of your tears, adds stain to our hearts
Theres no long years can tear us apart
Our futures entwined with your past
Because when we lie awake
Well be thinking of you
Blow, grey lady blow your ships back home
Blow, grey lady blow your ships back home
Bravado is all but gone
And patience is down
You scared us and youve turned us around
But you wont let us drown
Because when we lie asleep
Well be dreaming of you
Blow, grey lady blow your ships back home
Blow, grey lady blow your ships back home
So answer us when we call
And say if you think were old
When life is so short we can stay long
But youll never be alone
Because one day well return
Well be waiting for you
Blow, grey lady blow your ships back home
Blow, grey lady blow your ships back home
Blow, grey lady blow your ships back home
Blow, grey lady blow your ships back home
Blow, grey lady blow your ships back home

song performed by Duran Duran
Added by Lucian Velea
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Written In Aid Of The Leicester Lunatic Asylum.

Light ye the torch,--
The torch that hath expired;
The light with which was fired
Chamber and hall and porch:
But now the house is dark,
Its inmates rove in vain,
There shines but a bewildering spark:
Light ye the torch again!

Light ye the torch,--
It was a sacred flame,
From God in heaven it came:
All nature ye may search
To find a fire so bright,
And ye shall search in vain:
But quenched is all its glorious light:--
Light ye the torch again!

Light ye the torch,--
The ruthless winds have blown
Its tresses up and down,
Till it did scare and scorch,
Not bless: but one fell blast
Swept howling o'er the plain,
And left all darkness as it past;--
Light ye the torch again!

Light ye the torch,--
And ye shall blessed be:
Till many a bended knee
In chamber and in church
Shall serve ye: merciful,
Mercy ye shall obtain:
Your cup of glory shall be full:--
Light ye the torch again!

poem by Henry Alford
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Sure Hit Songwriter’s Pen

Now I was hangin' round Nashville writin' songs and playin' 'em for all of the stars
Watchin' 'em laugh and hand 'em back livin' on hope and Hershey bars
So I pawned my guitar and bought a ticket home and I's headin' for the Trailway bus
When I seen an old fountain pen laying in the gutter so I stopped and picked it up
It was worn-out bent and cast aside you know kinda sorta like myself
So I sat down on the curb and wrote a little song
That told the world how both of us felt
Then I run that song down to Music Row and before I had time to spit
It's pitched and sold and cut for a record
And moving up the charts and damn it's a hit
So I wrote me another winner then I wrote me a smash again
And I's a flyin' off the ground cause I knew I'd found me a sure hit songwriter's pen
So the songs they just kept a'pourin' out and the money kept pouring in
I just couldn't miss all it took was a twist of my sure hit songwriter's pen
Remember when I won the Grammy then I won it again and again
Well none of you knew that it was all due to my sure hit songwriter's pen
I was darling with all the ladies I was a hero among the men...
Making big dough working rodeos and TV shows me and my sure hit songwriter's pen
But then one night in Wichita I was just coming off of the stage
Folks all lined up and did crawl for my autograph Lord I was a national rage
One little freckled face girl was there she said I got no pencil sir
So I signed it with my songwriter's pen and then handed the pen back to her
Four o'clock that morning I wake up with the shakes and the bends
With terror in my eyes cause good God I realized I'd lost my sure hit songwriter's pen
I offered rewards in the papers I pleaded on the Sympathy Line
And a whole lotta folks and a whole lotta pens but none of them pen's was mine
So my songs got worse and my money ran out and so did all my so-called friends
And there was no doubt I was nothing without my long-lost sure hit songwriter's pen
So I rolled like a stone down old Skid Row where I feed my blues on wine
And I rest my chops in a two-bit flop and I tell my story for a drink or a dime
And I sleep with my shoes underneath my head and I dream about days back then
When I blazed my name across the sky with my sure hit songwriter's pen
Somewhere in Wichita some little girl who's a freckled face nine or ten
Is doing her arithmetic homework tonight with a sure hit songwriter's pen
God bless ya honey you got yourself my sure hit songwriter's pen

poem by Sheldon Allan Silverstein
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Blow My Mind

You got the mind like a child, girl,
You got to fight like a woman.
Well, I think youre so wild, girl,
Like the sun in the morning.
Im gonna turn you on
To where you belong
Pull you tight
Im gonna show you right.
You blow my mind
Blow my mind
Blow my mind
Blow my mind!!!
Pull myself together,
Tell you who the boss is
Now I feel like the weather
You gotta do what the lord says.
You blow my mind
Blow my mind
Blow my mind
Blow my mind!!!
Oh! pull yourself together
Tell you who the boss is.
Well I feel like the weather
You gotta do what the lord says.
You blow my mind hey, blow my mind
Blow my mind
Blow my mind.
You got the mind like a child, girl,
You got to fight like a woman.
I think youre so wild, girl,
Like the sun in the morning.
Im gonna turn you on
To where you belong
Pull you tight
Im gonna show you right
You blow my mind you blow my mind
Blow my mind
Blow my mind.

song performed by Janis Joplin
Added by Lucian Velea
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Blow Up

1-2-3-4
Boom bahbah boom bahbah boom bah.
Boom bahbah boom bahbah boom bah.
Boom bahbah boom bahbah boom bah.
Boom bahbah boom bahbah boom...
From the grass
Bah bah bah boom
They grew
Bah bah bah boom
Who knew
Bah bah bah boom
We would see them looking up
Bah bah bah boom
Not down
Bah bah bah boom
With frowns
Bah bah bah boom
Something got them...
Off the ground.
Oh...
Boom bahbah boom bahbah boom bah.
Boom bahbah boom bahbah boom bah.
Boom bahbah boom bahbah boom bah.
Boom bahbah boom bahbah boom...
One day
Bah bah bah boom
Dues paid
Bah bah bah boom
They said
Bah bah bah boom
They would blow up.
And be somebody!

Boom bahbah boom bahbah boom...
One day
Bahbah boom bahbah boom,
They said
Bahbah boom bahbah boom,
They would grow up,
And be somebody!

Boom bahbah boom bahbah boom bah.
Boom bahbah boom bahbah boom bah.
Boom bahbah boom bahbah boom,
Blow up...
And be that 'body'!

Boombah boombah boom bah
Boombah boombah boom bah
Boombah boombah boom...

[...] Read more

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Added by Poetry Lover
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XI. Guido

You are the Cardinal Acciaiuoli, and you,
Abate Panciatichi—two good Tuscan names:
Acciaiuoli—ah, your ancestor it was
Built the huge battlemented convent-block
Over the little forky flashing Greve
That takes the quick turn at the foot o' the hill
Just as one first sees Florence: oh those days!
'T is Ema, though, the other rivulet,
The one-arched brown brick bridge yawns over,—yes,
Gallop and go five minutes, and you gain
The Roman Gate from where the Ema's bridged:
Kingfishers fly there: how I see the bend
O'erturreted by Certosa which he built,
That Senescal (we styled him) of your House!
I do adjure you, help me, Sirs! My blood
Comes from as far a source: ought it to end
This way, by leakage through their scaffold-planks
Into Rome's sink where her red refuse runs?
Sirs, I beseech you by blood-sympathy,
If there be any vile experiment
In the air,—if this your visit simply prove,
When all's done, just a well-intentioned trick,
That tries for truth truer than truth itself,
By startling up a man, ere break of day,
To tell him he must die at sunset,—pshaw!
That man's a Franceschini; feel his pulse,
Laugh at your folly, and let's all go sleep!
You have my last word,—innocent am I
As Innocent my Pope and murderer,
Innocent as a babe, as Mary's own,
As Mary's self,—I said, say and repeat,—
And why, then, should I die twelve hours hence? I—
Whom, not twelve hours ago, the gaoler bade
Turn to my straw-truss, settle and sleep sound
That I might wake the sooner, promptlier pay
His due of meat-and-drink-indulgence, cross
His palm with fee of the good-hand, beside,
As gallants use who go at large again!
For why? All honest Rome approved my part;
Whoever owned wife, sister, daughter,—nay,
Mistress,—had any shadow of any right
That looks like right, and, all the more resolved,
Held it with tooth and nail,—these manly men
Approved! I being for Rome, Rome was for me.
Then, there's the point reserved, the subterfuge
My lawyers held by, kept for last resource,
Firm should all else,—the impossible fancy!—fail,
And sneaking burgess-spirit win the day.
The knaves! One plea at least would hold,—they laughed,—
One grappling-iron scratch the bottom-rock

[...] Read more

poem by Robert Browning from The Ring and the Book
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Saviour of Society

Epigraph

Υδραν φονεύσας, μυρίων τ᾽ ἄλλων πόνων
διῆλθον ἀγέλας . . .
τὸ λοίσθιον δὲ τόνδ᾽ ἔτλην τάλας πόνον,
. . . δῶμα θριγκῶσαι κακοῖς.

I slew the Hydra, and from labour pass'd
To labour — tribes of labours! Till, at last,
Attempting one more labour, in a trice,
Alack, with ills I crowned the edifice.

You have seen better days, dear? So have I —
And worse too, for they brought no such bud-mouth
As yours to lisp "You wish you knew me!" Well,
Wise men, 't is said, have sometimes wished the same,
And wished and had their trouble for their pains.
Suppose my Œdipus should lurk at last
Under a pork-pie hat and crinoline,
And, latish, pounce on Sphynx in Leicester Square?
Or likelier, what if Sphynx in wise old age,
Grown sick of snapping foolish people's heads,
And jealous for her riddle's proper rede, —
Jealous that the good trick which served the turn
Have justice rendered it, nor class one day
With friend Home's stilts and tongs and medium-ware,—
What if the once redoubted Sphynx, I say,
(Because night draws on, and the sands increase,
And desert-whispers grow a prophecy)
Tell all to Corinth of her own accord.
Bright Corinth, not dull Thebes, for Lais' sake,
Who finds me hardly grey, and likes my nose,
And thinks a man of sixty at the prime?
Good! It shall be! Revealment of myself!
But listen, for we must co-operate;
I don't drink tea: permit me the cigar!
First, how to make the matter plain, of course —
What was the law by which I lived. Let 's see:
Ay, we must take one instant of my life
Spent sitting by your side in this neat room:
Watch well the way I use it, and don't laugh!
Here's paper on the table, pen and ink:
Give me the soiled bit — not the pretty rose!
See! having sat an hour, I'm rested now,
Therefore want work: and spy no better work
For eye and hand and mind that guides them both,
During this instant, than to draw my pen
From blot One — thus — up, up to blot Two — thus —
Which I at last reach, thus, and here's my line
Five inches long and tolerably straight:

[...] Read more

poem by Robert Browning (1871)
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Love A Mortal Who Writes

This be a farce dictation.
But then,
Love a being who writes

Because a writer
Is a liar.

I will lie about how the
Night flames with the warm waters
But you will never believe me
For I am a liar
With a pen and a paper.

Love a writer
For a writer is a soldier
Regardless of state:
A drunken soldier.
An arrogant soldier.
A morose soldier.
A burning soldier.
Whichever.

Love him
For he is a liar.

He is a prolix garden
Of petty things.
He makes the moon an empire,
And the Sun, an asylum.

He will lie about certain things
With sheer beauty
That none of you
Can contain.

Why love a liar, you might ask?
Listen to a painter as he lies
And he will guise himself with
A shallow palette of colors.
Listen to a businessman lie,
And he will be easily defeated
In a warfare of witticism.
Listen to a doctor lie
But then again, science cannot
Feign states or even a love.

And you can think of any other
Occupation that holds a lie,
And I will tell you

[...] Read more

poem by Windsor Guadalupe Jr
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Shameful Soldier

Look at me –
Besmirching the whites,
And tainting myself eruditely,
Adeptly, with black – or something somber
I am morose with my pen,
And never logical
Never witty nor a blissful man
I am a wounded soldier,
With my pen and pen alone,
Shall I dine with,
Sleep with,
With poetry, I make love to
And that is all about
The creeping despair that I hold
And embellish with my pen
-
Look at you –
You are never a ruptured soldier
Apart from I, ostracized –
You are a saintly fellow
Guised in the skin of a human
With no worries,
You do not sulk in defeat as much
As I am
You do not grieve for the loss of love
In the middle of the meddlesome warfare
How downtrodden I am, I do not know,
But one thing is for sure, sordidly,
I do not look pleasant with my pen,
For when I write words,
My skin aches
My heart twinges and syncs with misery
Despairing with my pen,
And my pen alone, slinging like a soldier
With an ardent rifle
The time is ripe,
But mine body is not – my innocence,
Where is it? I fathom to regain a part of it
In the time of my writing, like a soldier of redemption
And lose it once I felt the sudden urge
To write again in contemplation
-
And so, as you find life in these words
From a fainted poet who’s not even adequate
To be called a writer or a soldier,
I die once more – and then
With one more word from a lost lover,
I am revivified only to find
That as a soldier is dispersed into battle,
I face my demise over, and over

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poem by Windsor Guadalupe Jr
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