Best Baez Poems
LIFE'S LIKE A VIDEOGAME by Daniel Baez
Life is partly like a video game,
Except you cannot play again or have multiple lives,
It may be difficult and might have some obstacles in the way
And also, things might happen unexpectedly.
But don’t get stressed when they do,
Try to advance in the game and end in it happily
But once you have made it to the end, you cannot go back.
But don’t be sad while you are still in the game,
Enjoy the game while you're playing
and don’t think of how it will end or when,
Try to stay positive in the time until then.
Don’t skip levels or be cheating in the game.
Don’t lie down and be waiting for something to happen
Instead, try to commit in it and make worth of the game
so you can enjoy it!
How do I say goodbye?
I'm nowhere near ready to let go
How do I come to terms
With the loss of one that I've loved so?
Never did it come to mind
That you'd have to leave so soon
I thought I'd have another chance
To sing old Baez tunes
You weren't supposed to leave just yet
With so many songs unsung
I've cherished memories of you
From the days when I was young
So many times you took me
To the latest movie show
And gladly let me tag along
Wherever you would go
You helped me to believe in me
When others seemed to doubt
And encouraged me to use my mind
For figuring things out
You told me truths about myself,
Urged me stretch and grow
You made all the difference
Oh, Lord, I hope you know
You saw me with such loving eyes;
Never once made me feel less
I hope you recall the times I've said
That my life you have blessed
But Uncle, I can rejoice today
In knowing you are free
And that your crown will hold a jewel
You've earned by loving me
In loving memory of Kenneth Charles Brewster.
I will cherish you always, Uncle Kenny!
Your favorite niece (wink).....
Donna
If my tears were a river
Would they flow to the sun?
Would they laugh, would they chatter
And before its course run,
Would they open to an ocean
Holding childhood dreams?
And in the tides of that ocean
Could they bring back what’s been?
If my sorrows were a rainbow,
Would they bright my gray skies
Across a ceiling of blue,
Lifting hearts ever high?
And give light to the pilgrim,
Give cure to the frail,
And to the families of homeless;
Warm bed and a meal.
To my ears sing a song,
Sing it out far and near,
That division and greed
Shall no longer be feared.
With a chorus of freedom
Ringing all thru the land,
Where all who can reach out
Will offer their hand.
Time tells us tales
How these tyrants are doomed.
Dear brothers, dear sisters,
It can not come too soon!
We search for the dawning
Of that glorious morn,
When hands of the Lord
Will repair what's been torn.
When the children can laugh,
When women no longer hide.
When men can stand tall
And with face to the sky.
This war will be ended
With a treaty of love.
Where all will surrender
To the Glory above.
This is actually a song I have put to this public domain tune: youtu.be/UPS28ijF-ls Also try "Farewell Angelina" by Joan Baez for inspiration.
Featured: PoetrySoup Home Page - Week of 1/24/22
I have a peaceful easy feeling
As I sit and write this poem
Comprising 5 old songs
Which remind me of my home
They show me the importance
They teach me with such grace
To get up every morning
With a smile on your face
My youth was filled with ballads
Verses I could trust
And we all know what memories bring...
They bring dia-monds and rust
Songs taught me that my friends were
The wind beneath my wings
To treasure and embrace them
To value what life brings
There's a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in
For me, 'bout sums it up
The hope one feels within
Sometimes a simple sound
Or smell can be so strong
It carries me back light years
To one specific song
And in that song I bask
I know what each line means
Transcended to the past
Dressed in my tie-dyed jeans.
Eagles – Peaceful Easy Feeling
Carol King - Beautiful
Joan Baez - Diamonds and Rust
Bette Midler - Wind Beneath My Wings
Leonard Cohen - Anthemn
A few of my favorite things
A few of my favorite things
Looking at paintings of Cezanne Rembrandt Van Gogh and Rodin
thinking of their lives and of their times
of where and when they painted
of why and of who they where with
These are a few of my favorite things
Listening to music of Coplan’s Appalachian spring
Beethoven’s ninth symphony jazz of miles monk colt rain
songs of Dylan chimes of freedom and blowing in the wind
These are a few of my favorite things
Thinking of the past
when Robert Kennedy touched a small black Childs face with a tender
hand and asked if he had eaten that day
and of his speech when he told the crowd king had died and quoted the Greek poet
Aeschylus
even in our sleep pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart
until in our own despair
against our will comes wisdom
through the grace of god
When Joan Baez in Sarajevo during the surge in bullet proof vest
changed places with a street musician Vedran Smailovic who plays a cello in
the public square she takes his place and sings amazing grace
When jimmy carter befriends a little boy Mattie J.T. Stepanek who wrote poetry of just peace and a message of hope in his short time of life
Of the first responders who went fearless into the falling towers to save lives
These are a few of my favorite things
When in the wilderness and mountains peaks or lakes and rivers
seeing wildlife in their habitats amongst the swarms of morphing swallows and sunbeams and rainbows the quite springs and moving tides
and gulls in their nests
These are a few of my favorite things
Sitting in a café with a friend or a quiet walk along the shore
talking about books and ideas of the day
of feelings experiences and such things
of creating something of beauty to share with others
These are a few of my favorite things
Joan Chandos Baez is an American singer
Eighteen years old, first of the later date
protest folk singers
Famous before Bob Dylan!
Songwriter, musician, and activist.
Folk music of protest and social justice,
in the fields of nonviolence, civil rights,
workers' rights, and the environment
Made over 30 albums
Fluent in Spanish and English,
recorded songs in at least
six other languages
March on Washington for Civil Rights
Supported Cesar Chavez and his
United Farm workers Union
Protested Vietnam War, and supports
homeless veterans
Fundraiser for the Ukraine refugees
Eighty years of age, Joan is still
performing for cherished causes
History will teach us
"The Purpose Of Life" through
the genius women such as Joan Baez.
Long, shaggy bangs and suntan oil
Attracting the rays through pieces of foil
Transistor radio playin' Beatles tunes
Soppin' the sunshine from morning 'til noon
Soft, summer grasses, the rabbit is loose
Teen Beat in one hand, the other one, juice
Beads of sweat but stubbornness wins
Starin' at summer through dark tinted lens
Time to go in and get dressed for the show
Iron my hair before time to go
Listen to Baez of the war
Yeah life in the 60's, we knew the score
Sit in the Westwood, feet on the chairs
An usher walks in - his flashlight, it glares
Go to the drugstore, buy paint for our face
The hippies are loose, they hang out every place
Get home for supper then head for a bath
Throw on some clothes and go over to Kath's
Get in the car and get ready to cruise
'Cause life in the 60's is makin' the news
I love listening to Bach on late evenings, especially his flowing ‘Ave Maria’,
just as I like tuning in to Schubert’s ‘Ave Maria’, far too many Ave Marias!
Nothing compares to Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata', it’s simply beautiful;
George Handel had he lived would have found Ludwig’s piece rather cool.
Amadeus Mozart, truly he was a musical genius, that Austrian son-of-a gun,
it’s high there among the classics, the elegant ‘Theme from Elvira Madigan’.
Give me Antonin Dvorak’s ‘New World Symphony’, so serenely majestic,
that, like Tchaikovsky’s ‘Concerto in 1st Movement’, creates instant magic.
Let me tell you a little secret: my days in the cradle had long ago passed by
yet, till this day I drift off to dreamland with a few strains of Brahms’ ‘Lullaby’.
Chopin he tinkers with his piano dreamily, that young romantic Polish chap -
etudes, nocturnes, mazurkas, you name it, though he could not do hip-hop.
I adore the songs of Bobby Dylan, though not necessarily his croaky voice;
honestly, I prefer listening to other minstrels sing his tunes, if given a choice.
Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell and Judy Collins, those gals sounded to me so fine;
I once volunteered to produce them but they said “Are you out of your mind?”
Could not do nothing with the three J’s, so I turn to Lennon & McCartney
who once rocked my childhood with their irresistible “yeah, yeah, yeah”.
Leonard Cohen, does that man ever smile? so moody and stark his music
but I love him anyway, though figuring out his lyrics often makes me sick.
Denver and Donovan’s stuff are sugary for my taste at times I would say
and there are occasions when I crave for songs that sound kinda lonely.
So I often give way to my old buddy from country land, Kristofferson man,
and let his somber ‘Sunday Morning Coming Down’ get me all undone.
Sad songs, joyful songs, all styles, will they ever come in just one package?
so I won’t have to spend much on CDs that is straining my minimum wage.
Given those great musical influences I have painstakingly mentioned above,
it is a sure bet I am off to greatness if I just behave and do what I truly love.
I sat with rum and Joan Baez the other day
Writing up three poems in Bombay
One short another crooked
Yet not quite a disaster
The other long and sad
Not very bad but still not much more
Than a chinchilla whore
In her teens, plump, with baby fat
Still around her cheekbones, shoulders, waistflesh
Trellised eaves
A tooting car on Cadell Road
Dusk falling, friends out on a binge,
I alone in the darkening flat
Joan Baez on my knee her voice from the cassette recorder
Blurring the border between voice and flesh
And letting them enmesh
Wafting out over lonely streets
Climbing the Pali Hills
Sidling in stealth by private yew hedges
To caress like silk the legs of a party
Falling to pieces at only six-thirty
Prosaic, proselytizing like Diogenes in the bin
Beard straggling all over an obdurate chin
Breathe in the voice let the pictures go by
Looking for a conjuror in the sky
And confused, return
Dreams back to ashes, ashes to the urn
Quiet in the knowledge that ashes don’t burn.
They say some poetry
Is coming out of me
Juice wrung out by iron teeth
From the tender heart of a slender tree.
I am Aztec
I am tree person
Taking refuge under these leaves
Hide me without erasing me
Until being Mexican is easy
cuando sea libre
Not a Baez
Not a Kahlo
America, accept me for me
I am a woman with swollen thoughts
tired words, redundant and rewritten over time
casi libre
We are there to knit together our courage
Woven tight, we are each a Latin strand
Holding one another when we cannot hold ourselves
We have an unspoken understanding
Of the pain we have all endured as a people
But yet create segregation among our own
This world is kind, it’s society who fails
To rationalize their thoughts, their actions
They leave invisible marks that will never heal
Our backs soaked wet in blood not the sea
And we bleed out their words from our eyes
And dry them on each other as we sharpen our knives
I am the gulf and the coast
Ramos by day
Ramos by night
Ramos the familiar Sequoia
Our roots deep in the earth
Soaking up the sweat and tears and bearing salty fruit
Unconventional, they mocked the establishment
Clad in paisley tops and bell-bottom denim,
With a symbol hanging on necks wrists or belts -
An emblem of inverted V , the birth of protest
Where murmurs from unrest gusted through lyrics,
In Woodstock of dreams hailing Baez, Hendrix, Dylan
As flower-power’s youth signaled change…
People of the 60s wrapped in love, not Vietnam rage!
Although experimental, they rallied a quest
For oneness, for a gentler‘ Blowing in the Wind,’
They lived on the streets to ignite an ideal
Which flashed ardor illuminating hearts,
In a kinship which assuaged a decade, lost
To claim their anthem, ‘peace begins with me;’
Embracing a norm with the grace of harmonious light.
For Richard Lamoureux's People Contest
6/6/2018
Strawberry flower
incense
breeze whispers
a smell
of indian print
curtains.
North Beach
musk perfumed oasis.
Wind chimes
tickle memory moment
flying down
Grant Street
breeze blowing
blaring Baez beat
on gawking tourists
whose crane necks
turn to see
Me
hugely pregnant.
Poignant ache
memory
through times fog
seeping under sills
fills
a world
bridging the Gate's
ancient groan
of Bela birth
and Brownie grave.
Miles
of blue worlds
misty soft tears
meet a heart
overflowing
in a warm caress
for yesterday.
Just pop a dime in the
jukebox; select a song
judge it well to impress;
Jerry Lee, Jimmy H,
Joan Jet, Jungkook!? Jay-Z,
J. Cole? No, none of these.
Joan Baez - Hope I guessed right.
Bay area's crown jewel, The Claremont,
Where age 24 Steve Jobs and I talked,
Well, him--as to the future--I was shocked,
The guy aimed high, humble, who want for naught.
An unscheduled stop by a young Prince Charles,
That shook the hands of this Hawaiian kid.
Isabel Sanford's inebriated,
Big Head for A. M. Talk Show With The Stars.
The moment when Chris Kristofferson and,
Geraldo Rivera stuck in the lift,
Then there's Joan Baez mom, a bit of a rift,
Some more late check-in, Waylon Jennings band.
The resort, like San Francisco, midway,
Pearls in an oyster, San Francisco Bay.
***Same hotel where the late Ricky Nelson band stayed with wife Kristin who's actor Mark Harmon(--sister) from the show NCIS, who also visited there, whereto, I have already submitted a sonnet.
Date: 08/26/2019
I Saw The Psychedelic Lights ??
It came through in music
As well as in song
C’mon People Now
Let’s all get along
Love, Peace and Happiness
Was what we did preach
It was our Trinity ??
Our core belief
There was Dylan, Baez
And MLK
Apostles of peace
With something to say
And...
All We Are Saying
Is Give Peace A Chance
Oh...
Let It Be
Our glorious chant
By: Bill MacEachern
02/27/21