Long Mandolin Poems

Continued from Part 2
Ah Consuela! I’m watching as lightning at midnight in green Spanish eyes
kindles cracks within crystals like flashes from pistols
                 residing inside of the gloom
as it hovers above us betraying a dove as
                ...

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If I am Syrian, what of it?
Stranger, we all dwell in one world, not its portals.
The same original Chaos gave birth to all mortals.
—Meleager translation by Michael R. Burch

Love, how can I call on you;
does...

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A Good Mystery


I love a good mystery
A real whodunit,
I love the Hallmark Mystery and Movie Channel,
Nothing like watching Andy Griffith play the part of “Matlock”
He always figured it out
And revealed who the murderer is in...

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for King Wen, circa 1151-1143 B.C.E. – with seven mind-bending kowtows

There where you had no occasion for play
There in your confined Ming I space
Where change wrought no change
In your fate
But for those plagued by your...

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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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As the sun sets
A hot wind like this
Does not belong in downtown Lansing
But here it is
Speed-boating down the Grand River grinning and wearing Ray-Bans

My wife and I
We hold down our pouncing bouncing patio table
At the...

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Now that December has descended
with it's roots of ice and skies of snow
our timber fortress is a sanctuary of ethnographic enlightenment
and embassy that entreats the exchange of craftsmanship, 
lately I have been preoccupied with my...

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Having been born in legendary Italy,a country
as old as the stones of the Via Appia,
made me recall the fiery image of Attila...
the barbarian from Hungary,
who dared to defeat the mighty Romans: 
by sacking their imperial...

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‘ Legendary … ’    ( Part  1  (of)  4 ) 


Step with me into History
Step with me, to ‘Days of Yore’ Pageantry
Let Time and Mind, March Back Momentarily
Let Mist...

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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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Chistu uaglione 'nquiet che guard luntano e aspett...          
sta c'ercan chella femmena sincera che tut
e pene fa frni: quanno a speranza nun s' trova;
bella uagliona, a...

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Never been to a festival before
But agreed to go with AL to Weiser
I had no idea what was in store
The way Al described it, was a teaser

The Weiser Festival is a week long
We stayed in...

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I’d never been to a festival before
But agreed to go with AL to Weiser
Really had no idea what was in store
The way Al described it, was a teaser

The Weiser Festival is a week long
We stayed...

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Just having fun at a bluegrass jam
When a stranger came up to me
He asked, “What sex is your mandolin”?
I said, “Where do I look to see”?

Alright said he, does it have a name?
Sure, I sometimes...

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In November when frost was on the punkin and corn was stacked in shocks,
And the snows began to fall and geese flew southward in V-shaped flocks,
'Twas time to gather in the corn for a huskin'...

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Today I will
Think of love,
Speak of love
As I have not
Spoken before-
A time in the park
Just west of the Village,
As we often did
On a
Sunday afternoon,
Talked balance
With the jugglers,
Breath with
The balloon clown
Exhaling you a white poodle-
Sang in...

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Each morning when I rise before dawn
Before I open closed eyes I may see
The essence of my soul’s *etheric body
That dwells deeply inside of me.

As I look at my face in the mirror,
Or is my...

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Al would invite me to his house to jam
Couldn’t play Bluegrass; didn’t give a damn
When Al brought in a banjo and fiddle
He played the bass; I could only twiddle

When he said, “a guitar player’s coming”
Some...

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How large the pearlescent sun seems today.
Yet it is dying, its flaming rays ineffective.
After a long hot day, tired, it must be spent.
So patiently it descends out of humanity’s vista,
Far across the sea, behind the...

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Distant notes adrift of a lone melancholic mandolin 
Astride a gentle breeze covetous caress to my skin
Seductive and voluptuous a most impassioned plea
Bursts a sunset with fervent shades of lush alizarin

Promising nonchalant sensory whispers of...

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Ben Matlock-He Was The Best


				Ben Matlock
				Attorney at Law
				Atlanta, Georgia,
				That’s where he was, y’all,
				He was one of a kind,
				Answers he would find,
				A hit series on CBS,
				His show reruns on Hallmark
				And MeTV,
				He never lost a case,
				His colleagues...

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The story of how the band got its start
At least, as best I remember my part
A hot new banjo picker came to town
Joined my jams and I dug his sound

Bill planned to become a resident...

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He was a good old mountain boy from the state of Kentuck.
His Pappy taught him some fiddlin' and a banjo how to pluck.
He was mighty good on the mandolin and the guitar too.
Sippin' a jar...

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Mandolin melodies harmonised horizons,
yet the only strings being strummed
were those of my heart.

In the midst of enchanting melodies,
where nothing else mattered, but her,
we wandered barefoot, hand in hand, 
as the tenderness of our steps decorated...

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We winter down south in Arizona
We stay down there six months cause we wantta 
My friend Bob is about six miles away
And often we’d get together to play

The model airplane field, was where we first...

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