8-7-20 PHILOSOPHICAL COMPETITION (song-in-progress)

Who is the most authentic
Living in nature
Empty clam shells
Greens and stewing roots
Poking through the sand
Good enough to supply
Physical sustenance

Who is the most free
No one to see you or me
As we move thru life
Without revealing
A secret identity
The world never imagines
We’re hiding behind distractions

Middle of the night tossing
Measuring need by thermal burnings
But you provided
No Rosetta Stone
Nothing to accompany
Years of clay etchings
Masquerading as feelings
That may or may not exist

Who is the most responsible
Living lives alone and lonely
Life not providential
But surely existential
As we do what may be right
Loveless in the hemispheres
Lifting legs like logs
Through the muck and mire
Lost in the geography of the
Split brain…

© 2020 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)
IMAGE: Existentially Alone

7-28-20 THE PARAPHRASE (Connie Francis 1959 song “Lipstick on your collar”)

*scroll down for a YouTube video

“Lipstick on your face mask
Told a tale on you
Lipstick on your face mask
Said you were untrue
Bet your bottom dollar
You and I are through
‘Cause lipstick on your face mask
Told a tale on you, yeah”

A SONG FOR THE PANDEMIC…

© 2020 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)
IMAGE: Lipstick on his face mask

* https://youtu.be/YMlALAaEwfA
Connie Francis 1959 lipstick on your collar

I’m so silly today! Actually put on my best dress and drove around early in the morning to see the Gulf Channel off of Grand Boulevard. 15 minutes of freedom…Be safe and healthy ❤

NEW BOOK!

You’ve probably read all my poems but here is my newest addition to the ongoing poetic diary of my commonplace life 😀 There are so many photos (mostly of my beloved baritone ukulele) so KDP set the lowest price at $1.99 USD. Must say, this is not my favorite book of poetry. For that, I would recommend my big 3: Chording the Cards or Chakra Madness or Miniature Worlds Sublime.

Wishing us all health and safety in these trying times (that are unfortunately reflected in my poetry) ❤

COUNTRY SONG FOR CONCERTINA

Seems the concertina I ordered in May is trekking around Asia or Europe
Wrote this “song” and will try to chord it when the instrument is here 😀

(song-in-progress)

I’m pretending you love me
As magic thoughts strike
Like old days of herb-picking
When like would cure like

Some days I dream of shaking you
Like a prophetic eight ball
Ask you a question
Penetrate your brick wall

Like a recalcitrant concertina
I push and pull
But deep down I think
I’m just an old fool

So if I pretend you love me
Ten times a day
Like healing roots and leaves
Love me back, you may

© 2020 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)
IMAGE: 2nd Generation Flamingos

(the overuse of “like” is deliberate)

TANKA (SAY IT!)

song-in-progress

Don’t hear you say much
Don’t hear much said anymore
What is said not heard
What’s heard may never be said
Lies in the lives of lovers

Regretting what said
Words avalanching your own
Opinionated
But your words sliced my sad soul
Lies in the lives of lovers

Where to go from here
Can’t listen to words of war
No need for wrong words
Why would you shipwreck our lives
Lies in the lives of lovers

Sin of silence worse
Can’t settle diversity
Eye contact and words
Helps heal health of broken hearts
Lies in the lives of lovers

Choose words carefully
Keeping quiet isolates
Words reverberate
Sweeping out emotion’s dust
Truth in the lives of lovers…

©2020 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)
IMAGE: SAY IT!

 

TUNING: DGBE FOR BARITONE UKULELE

SIMPLE STRUMMING PATTERN BY LINE, ALL VERSES EXCEPT LAST:
D
A
G
DAG
DAGD

LAST VERSE IN LAST LINE: DGAGD

(TANKA LINE SCHEME: 5 syllables/7 syllables/5 syllables/7 syllables/7 syllables)

CROW GLASS MIRROR (SONG-IN-PROGRESS)

“Take your broken heart. make it into art”–Carrie Fisher

A G D
Swamp perimeter
A G D
Sun sets it a’glitter
D A
Feeling distressed
G D
Yes, abandoned nest

A G D
Lying on grass
A G D
Just shiny crow glass
D A
Black feather nearby
G D
Where’d they fly

A G
Neaten up their home
D G
So want to roam
A G
Been quite a night
A D
I’m ready to take flight

A G D
Lay down my shawl
A G D
Back against a tree wall
D A
Take out the pieces
G D
Pile of glass increases

A G D
Like a kid’s jigsaw
A G D
To the tune of a distant caw
D A
They form a circle
G D
And then a skull

A G
A fully formed mirror
D G
Couldn’t be clearer
A G
I see my cracked face
A D
Safe in a hiding place

A G D
Message from a crow
A G D
Definitely time to go
D A
Glass back in the nest
G D
Feeling less distressed

A G D
Final possession in the trunk
A G D
I still have lots of spunk
D A
Foot on the gas pedal
G D
I tried, I deserve a medal

A G
Driving through the night
D G
Finally taking flight
A G
Smiling at the crow’s gift
A D
I once again drift

D G A D
New art, new life…

(c) 2020 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)
IMAGE: Abandoned nest by my swamp, crow mirror & feather

ENTANGLED song in progress (in minor chords)

MINOR CHORDS TO BE ADDED (IF I CAN OVERCOME JANUARY LAZINESS)

 

eternal waves
washing away
unwanted memories
nightmare days

how can i write a love song
when no one has ever loved me
but before you offer your pity
understand,
i never loved anyone either
spent the years
dreaming of you
dreams of wonder
how do you taste
how deep can your eyes
see into my soul
invented scenarios too
your lips caressed me
never whispering lies
always making me feel whole

Violin bows
guitar strums
ebony and ivory
entangled with drums

and that one day i asked
could i stop dreaming and
make us real
force of will
will you see me
so finally found you
and there i was
smiling at you
for real
my lips moving
determination proving
we were meant to be one

soughing wind
whispering wild words
silence broken only
by cawing birds

and i asked
can i stop dreaming now
can we make this real
i want to know
all those years ago
apart
afraid to start
reality
you look at me
but no sound
no song
can i hear
swallowed by fear
i turn away

Violin bows
guitar strums
ebony and ivory
entangled with drums

(c) 2020 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)
IMAGE: Valentine Fantasy Song

GYROSCOPE (song-in-progress)

I’m a wild gyro
Tilting and spinning
Nothing, no one
To tether me
Maintaining orientation
And angular velocity
No problem though
Locating the horizon
When the mist comes
Surprising to see
I’m lost but then
By sheer will power
I right my brain
Like an airline control tower

You yank my string
Send me turning
Churning, burning
This aging heart…

Old bones can learn
To do new tricks
Like dogs biting
Entrenched swamp ticks
But here I go
Once again
Back in my ’07
Honda C-RV
Driving crazily
Through shadowy back roads
Six crates of my crap
All I own in complete defeat
Slipping off the back seat
To the World Music CD drumbeat

You yank my string
Send me turning
Churning, burning
This aging heart…

After days of driving
Back where I started
Land of swamps and palms
But I’m like a handful
Of July 4th cherry bombs
Short fuse, loud noise
Ready to blast
Whatever I worked for
And thought I owned
Gone in a gust
Of anger and mistrust
So the engine ticks
As I get out and stare
Ready for more psychological warfare

You yank my string
Send me turning
Churning, burning
This aging heart…

(c) 2019 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja
IMAGE: Gyroscope with Baritone Ukulele

LUNAR CAUSTIC

Waiting-waiting-waiting
A Lunar Caustic
Photographic negative
Miss Havisham* clad in her
Black dress
Waiting-waiting-waiting
To be combusted
By the enhancing of
Silver Nitrate
Holding in her hand a
Destroyed chocolate cupcake
Looking negative-white
A tier of wedding cake
Waiting-waiting-waiting
Sun and Moon
Alchemically conjoined
Silver Nitrate
Cauterizing wounds
Creating a scab
To stop the bleeding
Of a torn heart
Waiting-waiting-waiting
For what…?

(c) 2019 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)
IMAGE: Miss Havisham

*Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

COUNTERBALANCE

(song-in-progress DGBE tuning for Baritone Ukulele or Tenor Guitar)

D/You’re afraid of getting
G/What you want
Dm/So you push me Am/away

D/You grind your jaw
G/Like broken glass
Am/Leading my heart G/astray

chorus:
F/You’ve put me on a E7/tightrope
Am/Be careful what you G/say
F/Without a balancing E7/rod
C/I’ll hit the ground Am/one day

D/I don’t know how
G/To show you
Dm/We belong as Am/one

D/Why’re you so scared
G/Of love
Am/Arctic as the midnight G/sun

chorus:
F/You’ve put me on a E7/tightrope
Am/Be careful what you G/say
F/Without a balancing E7/rod
C/I’ll hit the ground Am/one day

D/Your words freeze
G/My heart
Dm/It drops down to my Am/knees

D/Losing my eloquence
G/Merely stiltiloquence
Am/Off the roller coaster G/please

chorus:
F/You’ve put me on a E7/tightrope
Am/Be careful what you G/say
F/Without a balancing E7/rod
C/I’ll hit the ground Am/one day
C/Hit the ground Am/one day
C/Slam right into it Am/one day…

(c) 2019 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)
IMAGE: Flamingo Love in the Dirt