Arlene Corwin Poetry

There Are So Many Xmas Songs
There are so many Xmas songs
To sing along to.
Messages of cheer and legend:
Santa land and fairy land
Bonded by a band of reindeer
Flying low to clear each household,
Santa chuckling all the way,
Rounding globe the mystery.
Package giving,
Living in the coming light –
Santa driving all the night
Never disappearing or appearing.
Every year and filled with fervour
We still sing
About his coming.
Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas –
Another term for Father Christmas.
There Are So Many Xmas Songs 11.30.2019 Our Times, Our Culture II; Arlene Nover Corwi

The Fabric Of Existence
(a long piece of material)

The more we buy, more we collect,
The more it comes apart,
Tearing seams and threads
Till finally it shreds – and is in shreds.
I’ve done it all ’til I don’t know
Where, how to use the stuff.
I’ve got enough to fill a house or two

• or three,
  Maybe.

It’s taken years of starting, stopping, weary,
To see clearly as the glass before me;
Out of touch,
I’ve got too much!

What’s there to do
When parting is a problem, so
All I can is say:
(Confession a reflection and a way of working out
What’s often in the way)
Is: fabric of existence!
Oft’ to write, share, think things over:
The impoverished are always there.
But we were born to hunt and store.
No one excluded, for
It lies within the genes to live;
Gen-ius the coinciding.

All phenomena have opposites:
Good/bad, reserve/excess:
Self-gratifying dissoluteness;
Our society has surplus.
Superfluity, leftovers, weapon;
Surplus and starvation.

Sadly, I am one. ,
Seldom out of touch with much,
Philosophical and knowledgable,
Spiritual, well read, aware –
Yet I am there
Helping breakdowns, crumblings, bustings…
Hopefully, with trust in something never lost,
For will and thrust to choose the best,
The uppermost, cost what must.
I won’t be one of those who tear
The fabric of existence.

The Fabric of Existence 11.30.2021 Circling Round Reality; Circling Round Existence; Circling Round Experience; Arlene Nover Corwin

The Fabric Of Existence

The more we buy, more we collect
The more it comes apart,
Tearing at seams and threads
Till finally it shreds – and is in shreds.
I’ve done it all until I don’t know
How or where to use the stuff.
I’ve got enough
To fill a house or two – or three,
Maybe.

It’s taken years
Of starting, stopping, wearying
To see as clearly as the glass before me,
Out of touch, I’ve got too much!

What’s there to do,
When parting is a problem, so
All I can do is tell you,
(For confession is reflection
And a way of working out
What’s often in the way.)
The problem to consider
Is the fabric of existence.
To deliberate and oft’ to write
To share to think things over.
The poor are always there,
But we were born to hunt and store.
No one excluded, for
It lies within the genes to live.
Yet, all phenomena have opposites:
Good has bad, restraint excess:
Self-gratifying dissoluteness.
Now a whole society with surplus.
Superfluity, leftovers (killing weapons notwithstanding).
Yes, surplus and starvation.
Sadly, I am one.
,
Seldom out of touch with much,
Philosophical and knowledgable,
Spiritual, well read, aware –
Yet I’m there.
Helping breakdowns, crumblings, busting;
With trust in God, there’s winning.

The Fabric of Existence 11.30.2021 Circling Round Reality; Circling Round Existence; Circling Round Experience; Arlene Nover Corwin

       Our Best Bullet Forward: Inspiration

Someone thanked me
“De nada” “De rien”, thought I.
And then I pondered (for one second only)
Yes, it’s inspiration that’s the key.
Stimulation in the highest.
Motivation, activation, catalyst
That pushes in the nicest way
Towards creativity; imagination and originality;
A bravery not had till then.

Dependent on the gifts and genes
One’s gen-ius comes through,
A You, somewhat, or wholly new.
Inspiration: inhalation,
Instrument of powered vision.

To breathe in from someone’s brainwaves
Saves skill; artistry
That may have fluttered by:
Insight, influence and individuality.

So jump on it!
An impulse doesn’t last forever.
Use it!
It may lie latent,
Change you over time.
Instruct you in its silence.
Regardless of the path of entrance,
Be ye open
To let inspiration in.
Perhaps that is the inmost secret.

Our Best Bullet Forward; Inspiration 11.29.2021 The Processes: Creativity, Thinking, Meditative II; Circling Round Experience; Arlene Nover Corwin

Every Little Happening

It’s so important
That we we grasp in every moment
That in every incident,
The smallest to the biggest
There is black and white, yin and yang,
Positive and negative.
Therefore, bang or clang
Is not to jump for joy
At new inventions, opportunities,
Weep at surface tragedies:
Appearances deceive.

Do not believe
All that you see, hear, learn of.
Not perceive,
(unless you’re very wise,
For it needs wisdom to see through
Events around you)
But maintain in mind and not lose sight of,
Forces, which above
determined long ago,
That circumstance is but a dance
Of contradictions, inner, outer and potential.
All in one, fetter liberation
Never neither, none.
Every little thing an alternating
Non-intentional phenomenon.
Every Little Happening 11.28.2021 Circling Round Reality; Arlene Never Corwin

Slowing Down The Ageing Process

One process or processes?
Lots, one might suppose.
The hints, all unsuspicious:
Subtle, hardly seen or felt.
Then indisputable, un-dubious;
Faults, flaws, some few dealt with;
Pain, discomfort palpable
A tumult in the psyche –
Incontestably.

Feedback copious,
To slow down what’s occurring,
Working to destroy the insult:
Democracy you can’t consult.
Results of time and nothing more.
Time’s Insults and nothing less.

Acceptance seems the only answer.
Giving in to cause, effect,
The will of something other than…

Ah, the forces that determine fortune:
All to do with ups and downs.
Inescapable, sure, bound,
Pre-determined, in the end
Out of one’s hands,
Try what we can.

Slowing down the end of time, your own unknown
Is answer to the blanket koan:
What is the sound of one had clapping?
Happening all of the time, change that leads to home, becoming:
Source of course, time’s baffling terms.

Slowing Down The Ageing Process 11.25.2021 Circling Round Ageing; Circling Round Experience,; Nature of & In Reality; Arlene Nover Corwin

Fingerprints

Wherever you go you leave a print;
Identity that shows uniqueness,
Evidence,
Not more or less.
Startling, yes?
One of a kind, digit to mind.
Unlike an ‘else, unique and special.
Deeply individual.
So,
What e’er you do,
The choices mind is drawn to:
You!
Unique, complete, infinitely perfect – faults and all,
The ways you climb, the ways you fall…
Encompassing distinctive nature,
Its distinctive character and features
Which you choose, – or which choose you.
“Know thyself” said Socrates and Plato
On the Temple of Apollo.
Every Greek, great seeker knew
That when you find the You,
You find the prints that make up who?
The personal, the spiritual, the intellectual,
The movable, achievable, the cordial and primordial,
Real/ideal, menial and genial, bestial, celestial,
The cruel, jewel, worst and finest…
Remember thus, where’er you go,
What e’er you do
You leave a print that it was you –
A you, the one and only
Worth the tracking to its authenticity;
Its genuine originality.
Reliable, dependable, credible and true.
Thus,
the sense
of fingerprints.

Fingerprints 11.20.2021 Nature Of & In Reality; Arlene Nover Corwin

   Analysing Analysis***

I woke this morning:
Having worked on memorising:
Lyrics to the song “Besame Mucho”.
I wound up analysing
Every sentence, rhyme… as such.
I analysed and memorised,
The processes together,
One following the other,
Sister, brother, father, mother,
Such was their connection.

Later on I noticed
I was focussing on everything;
Every little something sticking out
Within the moment But,
It didn’t last all day.

When there it pointed roads and routes,
Plans of action, tactics, blueprints;
What the mind is meant to carry off throughout a life.
It pointed ways to grow the gifts we have inside us,
Make the learning seem a never stopping cleverness.
A power with an expertise as bonus.

Analysing is to de-compose and scrutinise;
Go over with a fine-tooth comb;
Aim to make it all your own.
Analysing is a sequence and dissection;
Observation; examination;
Evaluation, interpretation.
Then at last, the revelation!
Analysing Analysis 11.23.2021 The Processes: Creativity. Thinking, Meditative II; Arlene Nover Corwin
***examine (something) methodically and in detail, typically in order to explain and interpret.

The Older Jazz Musician & Her Voice

Limited by ageing voice
But animated, joyous;
More intuitive, deducing
Notes and phrases never guessed or forced
Limited by age’s noiseless course;
The finger’s former comets
Flying up and down the keyboard,
They, no longer playing the same chords
Stretches shortened, tempi slowed.
They’re getting old,

And yet the creativity has new directions;
Possibilities new gold, abilities unfold.
Never dreamed of north or south;
The youth of technique’s suppleness
So much the less, and yet…the jazz is best,
The test of time at rest.
All’s compensated for.

You’re not an ageing voice and hand
But something grand;
Melodious and brave,
Something others savour,
As if favour has empowered you this hour.
Not a sour note is left.
All is new, but in a different way.
The theft of time made up for
By new creativity.
Hooray!
You’re boss and nothing has been lost,
The older voice, the stiffened hand
Replaced by a new brand of fear-free spontaneity.
Yippee!

The Older Jazz Musician & Her Voice 11.20.2021 Vaguely About Music II; Arlene Nover Corwin

.

As a jazz musician myself (piano/voice) seeing Vladislav Richter willingly make no attempt to hide or even avoid mistakes, I always considered him 'jazzy'.  One of the highest compliments I can make of a fellow musician, no matter the instrument or genre.

Gorgeous!. I had the honour of seeing him play in Oxford.”

Many months ago I wrote this comment on Youtube. Today, someone replied, “I envy you.”

 Being Yourself In Art

It may not be the smartest,
But it is the art-tiest
To be yourself when painting, acting, dancing, playing…
If you’ve got a penchant and/or talent
It is patently a truth
That you will make a goof
Now or in the future –
And does it matter
If a smattering of loss of focus
Or of foolishness
Intrudes upon perfection?

What is perfection anyway!
Intelligence craves, comes, goes in waves
Which saves, and even teaches
What to do next time.

And so this rhyme,
Which probably
Will be
Re-
written
Over, over,
As the former Arlene Nover
Reheats, repeats, reprising
To turn error into prize,
For pride must fall
To get the most from all,
For Self is all there is.
Your music is your business,
No one else’s.
Being Yourself In Art 11.20.2021 Vaguely About Music II; Arlene Nover Corwin