Long Banjo Poems

"As other spirits sail on music, mine, oh my love, swim on your perfume." Charles Baudelaire

"Sometimes you find an old bottle from which the soul returns." 
Charles Baudelaire

"Smell is a Word. Perfume is Literature."

"There are...

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Like Hannibal we crossed the pass and crossed 
   the Alps (okay, the Brynderwyn Hills) 
and a bridge too far on north-west passage.
   From out of the Valley of Mizpah 
to...

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from island corner, big Antrim lad
  to Belfast city, a tiny pad
  shattered windows, tilted clocks
  Goliath had lost his socks
  gargantuan giant going mad

  Armagh apple girl, any topic
...

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Once at the roundabout, I stopped for precaution
Stretching my arching legs, so much exhaustion
Many a long mile I have been, 
I am steadfast without chagrin. 

Left there yesterday to get here early
Didn’t get lost but...

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I saw a cat quartet within my dodgy dream,
Sorta started worryin' that I'd gone off the beam,
Really began to wonder if my mind was gettin' weak,
They had their own language that only they could speak.

While...

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Version 1: 

Some writhe in fear before a roller coaster ride, 
You would think they just wouldn’t get on it.
I think I’ve felt worse just standing by a girl’s side
Let’s forget throwing brains at a...

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I’ve unfurled the Southern Cross tonight and put it
On the wall, and as I gazed the longest while.. I thought I heard the
dingo’s call?  It couldn’t be as all
Round me were the sounds of...

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If ever there’s a campfire, rekindled as the sun goes down,
where ghosts of articulated writers, return and gather ‘round;
raise their glasses to a toast to commemorate their rhyme,
I wish that I could be there if...

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Pop (corn) Music


Introduction

It’s time to dance, time to tango
There’s a Canadian on the banjo
When he sees the guitar strings
Jack’s mirth grows soaring wings;
As he scans the rhapsody drums
While busy the Banjo he strums!


He strums with...

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Ode To a Ululele
A soprano uke was what I had
A birthday present to me from Dad
 And with a Mel Bay book “How to Play”
I practiced a little every day
Learning chords is quite a fight
...

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I Woke Up

I woke up this morning to nothing, 
Emptiness crowded my lonely room, 
The sound of silence was deafening, 
I was blinded by the rays of gloom, 
(Just a dress rehearsal for the tomb)...

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Flight Of Fancy
                                ...

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In one square mile, northeast of Noojee,
there are seven birds that I often get to see
as I walk on the tracks in pristine forestry,
in one square mile, northeast of Noojee.

A Whipbird crack through ti-tree scrub,
a...

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An ode must be written to the player of strings
Thanking them for the joy their playing brings
Reminiscent to a puppet master they strike the strings
Like a ventriloquist with seemingly voicelessness the object sings.

Sometimes seated or...

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Now, Railroad Bob has lost his job, he’s got no place for working,

His wife, she cries with desperate eyes, their baby’s head’s a’ jerking.

The union man don’t give a damn, Big Brother lies a’ lurking,

the...

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My Pa warn't much for music,	
Not like ya hear today.
Them tune he learnt and taught me,
Were from a bygone day.
But Saturday nights were special;
At least they were to me.
Cause that was when we'd play them...

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Came, Sprawled couch,
 
His voice getting softer and softer
 
Slim
   Prayer,
Cheap sloping gimmick of N|Nature,
Madly 
Reaching
   Grabbing last splash
         of
Downed B|Banjo Bourbon… 
...

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Came, Sprawled couch,
 
His voice getting softer and softer
 
Slim
   Prayer,
Cheap sloping gimmick of N|Nature,
Madly 
Reaching
   Grabbing last splash
         of
Downed B|Banjo Bourbon… 
...

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There’s a load of dust and sweat pulling my ole tired mussels 
           down
           These...

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The alleyways within the maze are paved with rats and mice.

Evangelists with moneyed fists collect the sacrifice

from losers scorned and rubes reborn, and promise paradise,

while in the back they cook some crack, inhale, and roll...

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Hee Haw

                                 ...

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A pregnant lass with eyes of glass had never learned to cope;
once set adrift her fall was swift, she slid a slipp’ry slope.
She fled the curse of worlds perverse by shooting shots of dope,
and stalked...

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Banjo Bobs Barber Shop

Ill meet you there he’s open eight till late, right off hope street down dead end lane,
It can be quite a journey his reception worth your pain, no matter your passion, ignore...

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I watched a show on TV as we brought in the New Year in,
Full of guitar, banjo, fiddle, dolbro, mandolin.
Recorded at the Reimann down there in in 'ol Nashville,
Home-grown country pickin' for a two hour...

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A monochrome of boho days
segue one another surreptitiously.
Endless pantomimes of idle chatter flutter by.
Cantilever bridge, a one stop halting site for gossip and suspense.
Small talk, bespoke winged creature, Combe of pleuron.
Turin shroud spotter in the...

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