Beatles For Sale

I must have registered on some subliminal level the news of a new Beatles album, titled 'Love.' Anyway, needless to say, I made a point this week of watching the BBC1 documentary 'Imagine,' about the re-making of classic Beatles tracks by their legendary producer George Martin.

Almost as impressive as the aural feast Mr Martin and son have created were the glimpses we were given of the show that Circe du Soleil have created to accompany it. The show looked magnificent, and the sound track sounded wonderful. They've even uncovered recordings of the Fab Four chatting between takes. Digitally remastered, John Lennon and George Harrison once again sound every bit as alive as Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

Erie, but unmissable for Beatles fans worldwide. Since I wasn't given the album for Christmas, I'll just have to buy it for myself - that and a trip to see the show, as soon as possible.

Check out the Well Versed Beatles website for the latest and best information on the Fab Four, which is updated every few days.

Meet The Beatles

Speaking of the Beatles, as you may recall I was recently, the Fab Four have been a big part of many people's lives - mine included.

So, I'm especially pleased to have put together a brand new Beatles Directory. The latest addition to the Well Versed stable is available here, or by clicking on the link to the left.

Enjoy!

Roy

Poem of the Day, the Month, the Year - (I met my wife two years ago today)

An Angel at Christmas

I tell myself that angels' mere existence,
and anything that smacks of heaven-sent,
must overcome some pretty fierce resistance
if I'm to be convinced - although I went
some way towards a hope to be persuaded
when times were hard, and hope was all I had
(or so I thought). But hope was not upgraded
to confidence - I never was that mad.

But two years after meeting you, the dream
I never knew but always dreamed to share,
is coming true, and now I sense the cream
just out of sight is definitely there.

But could it be ambrosia, and might
the dreams we look to live be something more
than fantasies our minds create at night -
might they be what we were created for?

I met you at The Angel, and the date
two years ago - the twentieth - I'd say,
owed more to my persistence than to fate.
But still, I have to wonder, anyway.

Roy

I rarely write overtly political poems, and this one is only very mildly political, but I had this nagging feeling of 'I've felt this way before:'

It occured to me as I was listening to the White Album in my car that the feelings I had about the early Beatles especially - their naivité, their 'can do' approach to making new music reminded me of the early days of this government. For a brief while I was close to someone who was on the outer fringes of govenment, and even at that remove there was the sense she could contribute - did contribute - to the education and child nutrition debate in her case. A sense that there were teams of clever people drawn from different backgrounds from the usual elite, who were reinventing the way things were done. But time took its toll, and they're no longer young and uncorrupted - just infallible, it seems.

Like The Beatles

The difference is, the Beatles songs play on,
their words and music there at our behest;
inventive, though that innocence is gone,
as though preserved forever at their best.

Compare to you - career-wise you'd the same:
a decade's run from infant to old age,
but whereas you were strong and now are lame,
their wisdom grew from innocent to sage.

I liked your innovation, your 'can do'
enjoyed the sense that anyone could play;
I loved the thought of getting close to you
and maybe being listened to one day.

I liked the openness, the sense of teams,
the thought of all those clever minds at work,
and how refreshing all that talk of dreams!
And who'd begrudge one tiny little perk?

But that was in the days before the war,
the days before invincibility,
before your failing judgement, and before
an ancient Beatles song reminded me...

Well, how unfair! As anyone can see,
they'd little more than instincts at the start,
to trump your education. But, to me
the difference is that they still play a part.

While threefold education's now passé
the difference is, the Beatles songs still play.

Roy

Written in May of this year, this sonnet is a mixture of pure romance and linguistic playfulness, but I hope it works for you:

No other loves have stood before this time
and none have sat before you set me there,
so firmly was I set; the most sublime
were sublimated - lost unto the air.
No others went before, and none who came
have lasted long enough to have arrived.
None had the resolution for the game
as I resolved, so my resolve survived.
And none shall come hereafter, none but I
can set themselves beside you, or before.
For I will stay beside you 'til I die,
and maybe after that, for ever more.
Before you or beside you, not behind;
for never in your past nor from your mind.

Roy

Poem of the week, week ending 9th December:

I Took a Trip

I wandered off a while to do some stuff,
and busied me and hardly thought about
the stuff I wasn't doing well enough.
But wonder of all wonders, any doubt
that I should pay attention, disappeared
one accidental day: my back was turned;
I felt a shooting pain and I was speared.
The pain was not unbearable: it burned
like sometimes when a truth too hard to take
is simmered into you. Like when a friend
just has to tell you everything is fake
about you - there is nothing to defend.
But anyway, I turned and she was still
distilling stuff like that. And that can kill.

Welcome to Well Versed Poetry

Welcome to my new poetry blog. From now on, this is where I'll be posting all my poetry-related articles, links and new poems.

From time to time, I'll be adding older material, already published on my other blog, 'Well Versed.'

I now plan to use that blog exclusively for posting on other topics, especially business writing, copy writing and other ways you might earn a living as a writer.