GOTH NIGHT THIS EVENING
WITH GORDON GILBERT & MORE!
Hosted by Gordon Gilbert. No Cover.
Please purchase a beverage to help support the venue.
THE WRIGHT BROTHERS
by Roxanne Hoffman
Given to mischief, Orville was once expelled,
but could his father have predicted
his older son Wilbur would be so compelled?
“For some years I have been afflicted
with the belief that flight is possible by man.”
What most men only dared dream, his boys would plan.
Was it the hockey stick that struck Will’s face at 8?
Or the toy brought back from France propelling fate?
Made of bamboo, cork and paper with a rubber band,
flown and flown until it could fly no more,
then they made their own inventions soar!
As men they would glide over dunes of sand,
expanding their knowledge, honing their skill.
To unlock the secret of flight, their thrill.
“For some years I have been afflicted with the belief that flight is possible by man.” is the first sentence of Wilbur Wright's letter to Octave Chanute, dated May 13, 1900. In the second paragraph of the same letter, Wilbur Wright explains how “knowledge and skill” are critical to man’s flight.
G
By Roxanne Hoffman
G,
I tell my piano
the things I used to tell you,
pull back its fallboard
after propping up the lid,
stroke its sturdy trusses,
hear the strings vibrate in sympathy,
undampered escapement permits,
as my fingers depress and release its keys
to unlock unsaid thoughts,
the music I dream.
The solid back frame
understands the balanced tension
of romance:
the give and the take
of the player and the played,
the rhythm of two heartbeats, even at rest,
the somber melody
of disharmony.
We of equal temperament
speak at length,
practice our arpeggios and scales,
regulate our voices,
and play Mozart in your absence.
F.
Note: Lines 1 and 2 are a quotation attributed to Chopin. Toward the end of his life he had a falling out with his long time love George Sand, they separated, and she was absent from his funeral. A final request of Chopin’s was to have Mozart’s Requiem sung in his memory. After his death, among his possessions, a lock of her hair was found in a small envelope embroidered with their initials “G.F” tucked in the back of his diary.
MANY HAVE ASKED...
A Response to Shakespeare's Sonnet 115
by Roxanne Hoffman
My goal for these pairings is to find find a contemporary poem that addresses a subject similar to one of Shakespeare's sonnets. I am not looking for a specific relationship between the two beyond this. The modern poem can affirm, contradict, illuminate, ignore, embrace (etc etc) the sonnet. I am not simply looking for tributes or modernizations (though these are also fine). Also, I'm not necessarily looking for sonnets.
By leaving it this open (and vague) I am hoping that a poets choice of their own work also says something about their relationship to Shakespeare and their attitude about his work. I do not want to assume that everyone loves his work, after all not all composers like Mozart.
The other thing I'd like to get from you is input about how the pairing works within the song settings. Which poem comes first? Are they combined in one song or separated into two? Once I have a pair from you I will work on setting them for soprano voice and piano.
— David MorneauA lover of Shakespeare and a songwriter I was certainly enticed to participate! David is only accepting one pairing from each contributor but I've continued to work on additional responses.
LISTEN
A Response to Shakespeare's Sonnet 23
by Roxanne Hoffman
LXXII
What merit lived in me, that you should loveAfter my death, dear love, forget me quite,For you in me can nothing worthy prove;Unless you would devise some virtuous lie,To do more for me than mine own desert,
And hang more praise upon deceased I
Than niggard truth would willingly impart:
O, lest your true love may seem false in this,
That you for love speak well of me untrue,
My name be buried where my body is,
And live no more to shame nor me nor you.
For I am shamed by that which I bring forth,
And so should you, to love things nothing worth.
— William Shakespeare
MY LOVE FOR WILL
For The Bard
A RESPONSE TO SHAKESPEARE'S SONNET LXXII
Some say my love for Will is obsolete!
And that these saucy verses we’ve learned to repeat
Have soured — relish turning vinaigrette.
And those fourteen lines that make a sonnet?
Offer little meat to sink one’s teeth into,
Giving these zesty twists of wit less than due.
Perhaps in an age before DVDs and iPods,
When all to pass the time was sex, wine and bards,
Such screws of tongue & ink deserved their fame.
Still — much less has changed while more remains the same —
Don’t we line up to hear the poets slam and sling?
Rejoice while wincing from the smarts of verbal stings?
And since Love’s pen is not yet out of style,
I think I’ll keep my love of Will a while!
PERSEPHONE’S DREAM
by Roxanne Hoffman
A dream haunts me —
Silent, stealth-like, Winter enters.
Spine — frozen ice — I cannot flee!
Spying me helpless, he ventures!
His breath glazes lakes to mirrors,
Turning crystal each bare limbed tree.
My cries, a snowflake’s kiss censures
Till soft white blankets cover me.
Passion’s pyre dispels my terrors.
Nights linger, day's glimmer slenders
Until love’s furnace melts me free,
Sweet sweated from ardor’s pleasures,
And with Spring’s thaw life renters,
And flaunts dream free.
Roxanne Hoffman President and Founder of WRITE YOUR OWN TICKET™ Teaching Individuals to Develop their DREAMS™ into a Life Style: Design Targeted Goals Realize Your Full Potential Execute Your Game Plan Achieve Your Objectives Manage Your Success