You have really crafted an amazing post here. First let me say your vocals on the cover song are simply superb. Amazing vocal control. I was not familiar with the song but I just went and listened to the original artist and I can honestly say I prefer your version. While the poetry was not entirely my cup of tea (not your fault, just a stylistic preference, not really a big fan of rhyming in poetry in general), the prose that followed was BEAUTIFUL. Just simply beautiful, truthful writing. You had me in tears. Taken as a whole though this post is even greater than the sum of its parts. I wasn't expecting that. This is one of my favorite posts, taken altogether, that I have read/listened to on Steem blockchain bar none. Much love - Carl
and for your support now and in the past on other posts. The song being unfamiliar is its true charm for me. About three years ago now, I played a gig back in Lagoon City where the black bird gave me its gift. After my gig I was all packed up and sitting down to have some late dinner and a beer and this song came over the house system. I couldn't shazam it fast enough. It really got my attention. A little ironic or fateful that I would hear the song for the first time back in Lagoon City and odd that it would be pretty much an unfamiliar one hit wonder.
The poem is a tip of my hat to a 12 year old me who made a good decision to turn a soulless act into something meaningful and not wasted. The poem is written with something like a school assembly feel in mind or any large crowd reciting it. Again, I envisioned a group of 12 year old kids chanting it. If you set a metronome beat, and talk it to that, it gives it a little more life. There are a couple of easter eggs in the poem. 'Heart paid rent' is a double meaning. The obvious paying rent, the other torn. As well 'So still your wing' can be taken as simple stillness, or in context a comforting farewell with an implied comma after 'So.'
I received has manifested itself many times and in many ways in my life. I waited a long time between my first and second marriages. Some 15 years or so. My second wife, who you see third slide in the slideshow, sat me down in our living room in Kamloops, BC for a chat after about 5 years of marriage. She needed to confess to me that she had been sleeping with two other guys and was working on a third. I had zero clue, not even a suspicion. When I stood up to go to the kitchen I wonder what she thought. She knew she couldn't get out of the condo without going past me so she stayed put and let things unfold. Maybe she thought I had gone to get a knife, or was going to wreck the kitchen in anger.
and a towel and I washed her feet and quietly sang Jesus loves me to her. I dried her feet and left. She sobbed quietly while I did that. I've found a point in my life @carlgnash where I just don't care what people think or know about me. If folks think I'm not much of a man for that act, or that it's too spiritually limp I could care less. What I care about is the gift. You see, when I went to get the water and towel for my wife's feet, I already knew she was heading down an endless path of disappointment and I felt only sadness for her and for me. The life of that little black bird stayed my anger and my hand. I have never raised a hand to a woman and I don't see myself doing it unless a ufc chick decks me in a bar, then it's on. Over my shoulder she goes and we gettin' married.
Wow this comment probably deserves a Curie :) Thanks for the context RE the poetry, that actually makes a lot of sense and reading with that in mind made it much more impactful for me. A humble suggestion, I think it would actually be worth recording an audio version of you reading that poem and posting here to dsound - possibly even to update this post with a link if it is still in payout/editable if and when you take me up on this suggestion. I think this is a poem that needs to be heard out loud, after having read it out loud myself.
This post was nominated by a @curie curator to be featured in an upcoming Author Showcase post on the @curie blog. If you agree to be featured in this way, please reply and:
You can check out the previous week's Author Showcase to get an idea of what we are doing with these posts.
Cheers - Carl (@curie curator)
thanks for replying. Someone let me know you are part of the @curie team on a Sunday discord so it was cool to get a bit of third hand background on you. Recording the poem is a great idea! I will record and provide a link to the poem likely with soundcloud, as dsound will likely try to hijack all of my tags and formatting lol.
to use any text or images from the post. If you want a higher rez image from the slideshow just let me know which image and the rough time count it appears in the slideshow.
of my own website would be pretty adequate for something about me, and I also haven't been holding much back in previous posts. Please feel free to ask any specific questions you think of and can also email me at my thebugiq handle at ye olde gmail :)
Author showcase post is up :)
https://steemit.com/curation/@curie/curie-author-showcase-february-22nd-2018
YAY for this post being Curied!!!! So happy for you, @thebugiq. Thank you for recognizing such a soulful, meaningful contribution to Steemit, @carlgnash. Please pass my gratitude on to the rest of the Curie team. This one totally deserved it!
Thanks @katrina-ariel for all the support :D