La salsa

Alors vint la salsa...
– Gino Ducreuil

I

     The salsa enters on the tiptoes of celery
its bongos are maroon leathery mushrooms
     And the fat singer after margaritas
is pulsating fire: Celia Cruz

II

     The little black angels deform
under the blasting wall of electric strings
     Willie Colón the outlaw in-law
and this is the moment Brunilda Ruiz rises

     from a vogue for an eternally long
second-long long bridge
     The span of her foot is the graves of Puerto Rico
and the glistening rainy streets of Nueva York

     Spanish words by Adrés Eloy Blanco
music by Manual Álvarez Maciste
      for this elating bow the salsa
now playing in some nightclub in París

– Johannes Beilharz (© 1981/2010)

One quarter elemental for napowrimo #17, something elemental.

Note
Some explanation might be in order here to make this less cryptic.

This poem came about some time after the purchase of El Baquiné de Angelitos Negros, a 1977 album by Willie Colón. The cover shows dancer Brunilda Ruiz, and I somehow wove her, salsa and the much older song by Eloy Blanco and Álvarez Maciste into this poem along with salsa queen Celia Cruz, transplanting the whole show to Paris and quoting a non-existent Frenchman to introduce it.

I wanna be your hero

You call my attempts
risible, but please
leave me some lowly
pedestal at least

– Felix Morgenstern (© 2010)

Written for napowrimo #20, the hero poem.

A tiny little antidote to Bonnie Tyler:

Crystal clear

Crystal clear is my love.
– Jackie de Shannon

I approach the dark forest
Its darkness swallows me up
After a while I discern a path
It takes me up a slope to a clearing
In the middle of the clearing there is a pond
I dip my right hand into the pond
The water is cool and clear
It seems to do something to my hand
I take it out and look at the palm
But there is nothing

– Johannes Beilharz (© 2010)

What code could be more secret and elusive than dream? Put on the 'net for napowrimo #12, secret codes.

They call him the breeze

It happened by unthought known –
he knocked up my friend

Said shucks when told
and for amendment from his native country
Há tempos ... there are times

Don’t cry sister cry – get ready
for the times to get better

– Iself (© 2010)

A late entry for napowrimo #1, iTunes on shuffle. The pieces were:

Knocked up – Kings of Leon
Don’t cry sister cry – J.J. Cale
Shucks – Bill Frisell
Unthought known – Pearl Jam
Há tempos – Legião Urbana  

From memory I added a modified version of “They call me the breeze” by J.J. Cale for the title and “Ready for the times to get better” by Crystal Gayle for closure.

Ditty

In celebration of a grey city morning

The sky is grey, the roofs glisten a lifeless red,
just rose from restless sleep in bed

Last night I inhaled tons of smoke
and had too much rum with my coke

Give this city boy some good country rest,
a tour in spring air and today will be blest

– Johannes Beilharz (© 2010)

Havent’s quite shaken off the effects of last night’s outing with friends in a smoker bar as you can read here in this silly celebration for napowrimo #10.

For her

Had a terrible Easter
weekend staying
away from you. You laid
down the rules. Your
plan is to educate me,
drive all the feeling for you
out of this torn mind.
But I don’t have to put
that shoe on. I can
shuffle on loving you.
Perhaps educate you –
who knows...

– Johannes Beilharz (© 2010)

Something very personal for napowrimo #5.

Ms. Mueller’s Receiving Speech

“Here’s your room – there’s your view of the Alps.
On good days you can see the Zugspitze.
Did you see it on the way? There’s one place
around Fernpass where you can see it. I see,
you didn’t stop there. Here’s the bathroom,
please use the toilet brush. There’s hot water
in the mornings. Breakfast from 7 to 10
in the cellar or on the terrace on sunny days.
Tomorrow won’t be sunny, going by the forecast.
And tomorrow you plan to be where? Merano?
Well, then, good night.”

– Johannes Beilharz (© 2010)

Lends itself quite well to inside out for napowrimo #4.

Radiant Wall Panels

Now that Chucky
had finally –
after months of begging
and coercion by
his beloved Tilda –
installed the
radiant wall panels
in their Sears Roebuck
kitchen, temporary happiness
had been established
in the Elmore household

– Iself

Another non-abstract RWP acronym-based poem. This time I took "radiant wall panels." See previous post for more details.

Stuck

A rear wheel push

got us out

of the slushy mess

– Iself

Written for Read Write Poem's napowrimo #2. The task was to type "RWP" into Acronymattic and then write a poem with one or several of the resulting explanations. "Rear wheel push" appealed to me more than anything else because of its absence of abstraction, which fits in nicely with William Carlos Williams' "No ideas but in things."

Ernst Stadler: Bahnhöfe

Bahnhöfe

Wenn in den Gewölben abendlich
    die blauen Kugelschalen
Aufdämmern, glänzt ihr Licht in die Nacht hinüber
    gleich dem Feuer von Signalen.
Wie Lichtoasen ruhen in der stählernen Hut
    die geschwungenen Hallen
Und warten. Und dann sind sie
    mit einem Mal von Abenteuer überfallen,
Und alle erzne Kraft
    ist in ihren riesigen Leib verstaut,
Und der wilde Atem der Maschine, die wie ein Tier
    auf der Flucht stille steht und um sich schaut,
Und es ist,
    als ob sich das Schicksal vieler hundert Menschen
    in ihr erzitterndes Bett ergossen hätte,
Und die Luft ist kriegerisch erfüllt
    von den Balladen südlicher Meere
    und grüner Küsten und der großen Städte.
Und dann zieht das Wunder weiter.
    Und schon ist wieder Stille und Licht
    wie ein Sternhimmel aufgegangen,
Aber noch lange halten die aufgeschreckten Wände,
    wie Muscheln Meergetön, die verklingende Musik
    eines wilden Abenteuers gefangen.

– Ernst Stadler (1883-1914)

Fixpoetry

Ohne Titel

Gouache und Ölkreide, 2010

Ich freue mich, ankündigen zu dürfen, dass ich jetzt bei Fixpoetry mit etlichen neueren Gedichten zu lesen bin - meine Autorenseite ist hier direkt erreichbar.

Herzlichen Dank, Julietta!

Renewed onslaught of replica spam

There's good news for all those who had begun to miss replica watch spam:

REPLICA SPAM IS ALIVE AND KICKING!

Beyond that, it has added a confidential, personal note.

Here are some examples that came in during the past two weeks:

From Rita at v04010501bb8c0c083aa5@aist.go.jp

Hi,
At last I’ve found the store that sells quality replicas. All replica timepieces I ordered before looked like cheap imitations. I liked this store from the very beginning. I like their service and selection, and finally the watch I’ve received turned out to be nice, heavy and made from stainless steel.
Tom

http://crave8600.spaces.live.com

-----

Again from Rita, but this time at a6201d@ms21.hinet.net

(she calls me "Bill", hinting that we know each other, but let me assure you that that's not so)

Hello, Bill,
You won’t believe your eyes when you see my new watch. You’ll never guess it is a replica. It looks perfect and I love it. I’m sure I will be a great success with girls now, I’ve already caught some interested glances. I’ve ordered it from Prestige Replicas in case you are interested.
Dan

http://simplicial4271.spaces.live.com

-----

And, surprise surprise, from Rita once more, spamming from this address: 20dollys@india.redcatsasia.com

Hello, Julia,
I received my replica watch on Tuesday. I'm so excited! It is heavy, massive and looks so luxurious and beautiful!!! My boss has original Cartier, he thinks mine is real too, as it is impossible to tell the difference. I'm going to order from them some other models of watches too. Hugs, Angelica
uuo

http://august8860.spaces.live.com

Well, this time Rita is apparently Angelica, and the hugs are for me, Julia, even though I ain't no Julia and there ain't none in the household.

-----

The next one is from Maria (thank God for some diversity) at allen576@digitelone.com - even though one could also get the impression that it's from Robert to George!

Dear George, Today my replica watch has arrived and I'm surprised it doesn't look like a cheap imitation. My friend has advised me to buy a replica watch, so I can keep my original Rolex for special occasions and use the replica for daily wear and tear. Nobody will notice the replacement. I recommend you to do the same. Robert

http://supposition7516.spaces.live.com

My concluding thoughts:

1. Is there actually anybody who is interested in buying this shit?
2. Have any of these spammers ever earned a dime from their spam?
3. Who would be stupid enough to click on one of those links?

Oh, but here's a picture of someone who apparently did order:

Federico García Lorca: Der Schrei

Zum Anlass der letzten Sonntag im Kunstmuseum Stuttgart besuchten Fotoausstellung mit Bildern von Gerda Taro (1910-1937) zum spanischen Bürgerkrieg eine Übertragung eines Gedichtes von García Lorca, der 1936 von den Faschisten ermordet wurde.

Der Schrei

Die Ellipse eines Schreis
läuft von Berg
zu Berg.

¡Ay!

Von den Olivenbäumen
aufsteigend ist sie ein schwarzer Regenbogen
auf der blauen Nacht.

¡Ay!

Wie ein Violabogen
lässt der Schrei
die großen Saiten des Windes schwingen.

¡Ay!

(Die in den Höhlen
halten ihre Lichter hinaus.)

– Federico García Lorca

Ins Deutsche übertragen von Johannes Beilharz


El grito

La elipse de un grito,
va de monte
a monte.

Desde los olivos,
será un arco iris negro
sobre la noche azul.

¡Ay!

Como un arco de viola
el grito ha hecho vibrar
largas cuerdas del viento.

¡Ay!

(Las gentes de las cuevas
asoman sus velones.)

¡Ay!

Weitere Gedichte von Federico García Lorca

Momentous event

Another big dream

gone up

into thin air.

– Iself (© 2010)

Written and posted for Sunday Scribblings and Big Dreams.

I hate to admit it, folks, but that’s the way it went with a lot of my dreams – big and small.

Love disenchanted

When pigs cease to fly
it’s time to say good-bye.

I’ve had enough of you
and all the times I’d woo

you with four leaves of clover.
See you when hell freezes over.

– Felix Morgenstern (© 2010)

Written specifically for Sunday Scribblings and When Pigs Fly / When Hell Freezes Over.

All the Morgenstern poetry (Felix and Christian) posted in this blog