INTIMATE RIVER SOUNDS and OTHER FAVORITE POEMS |
I've written poetry off and on for thirty years, still, "Intimate River Sounds," the latest of my eight collections of poetry, caught me by surprise.
I'm a busy computer student /sculptor/ ceramic artist/ and web-designer, and I certainly didn't have time to write and edit a book of poetry over the last two years, but like an unexpected pregnancy to a forty something, here it is. Publishing it on the Internet is interesting and scary, is every line presentable? Will any one read the lines with the same inflection I do?
I've never tried to publish any of my work before, so this is a first. My rhythms, rhymes and off-rhymes bounce around, so how they are read is vitally important. Take time to feel the words. And remember, the most beautiful music is the ever changing syncopation of a babbling brook. And a special thanks to my friend MagaBob for pointing that out to me, so ever long ago, on the hills of Oregon, overlooking the coast. And yes, MegaBob, you are in here somewhere.
The poems from "Intimate River Sounds," the first section of the book, are a collection of poetry that dove-tails the sculpture Intimate River. The poetry, while often inspired by the sculpture, is not meant to be an absolute image or reflection of it. The second group of poems, "Sun Up, And I'm On My Way," are a series of four poems I wrote that interweave my Intimate River theme with the world of reforestation. They reflect my ten years in that industry. Each poem is designed to reflect a different aspect of that world. The first two are dedicated to the singer, Shania Twain's parents. They were reforestation contractors, who were killed in a collision with a logging truck. The latter two poems are dedicated to two tree planting friends of mine who also died along the side of mountain roads.
"Thoughts That I Have Lived With" is my working title for an
ongoing project. I've written hundreds of poems and these are some of my favorite.
I'll add more as I get them transferred to digital. Take note that some of these poems are
quite long. "Lucy Looks Twice" is eleven typed
pages. 
Eventually I'd like to get
all eight books typed and on line. Anyone like to type? Part of my problem is, if I
start to type up these poems, I wind up editing every third or fifth line; and then two
months later it's a different poem. "Lucy Looks Twice" was originally only four
of five pages two years ago, I swear.
You can jump directly to any of these poems by following the hyperlinks below. I've included the first few lines of each poem. To get an idea of the love / life / birth cycle that the first fourteen poems revolve around, you can try reading these first verses as one poem It's naturally a little rough, but at least on a thematic level it works.
If you do like these poems and this web-site overall and would like to pass it on to a friend, feel welcome to right click on the Intimate River poster / invitation to your right, copy it to a disk as a .jpg file and add it as an attachment to outgoing e-mail. I also have a, Recommend It," hyperlink at the bottom of each page that you can use, and while your at it, please do sign my guestbook.
From "INTIMATE RIVER SOUNDS"
(The Gift Of Love)
I saw you dance across the stage
Saw your stems bend in the heat and rain
I wanted to kiss you right away
But you disappeared in a curtain of gray
In the shadows of change
In the Milky Way
Speak Easy Lady
Don't lay there under my skin
Playing your harp
Don't leave me feeling so thin
Dying to hear what can not begin
I'm asking for something from you
I haven't seen since I came through
The fog and the rain
Of my Oregon days
Beyond city delights FROM SUN UP, AND I'M ON MY WAY
Part 1
Anthem for the Earth (Jerry’s Song) Sun up, and I’m on my way
Planting a harvest
For another age
8’ by 8’ by 8’ today
Each step I take
I plant my prayer
Part 2 Anthem for Her Children
(Sharon & Eilleen's’s Song)
Part 3 The Slash-Eater's Song (Anthem for a Women )
You're writing this song
I'm nursing our baby
It's a quiet night
As tender eyes
Slip away
The sun is down, come let's play
The Intimate River sounds so near
Washing away all our fears
Come here honey, strike our candle tonight
Though the air is cold, we shall bundle tight
Wrapped to this world
Where morning comes before daylight
Part 4 Bongo's Song (The way it really was)
Natures sleeping
Let's shake it up
InI drums like a wicked child
The sun is down, so let’s get wild
Ed grabs a guitar, Steve's got the fiddle
Leslie and I go dancing down the middle
Neil jumps in playing mandacello
Hair flying, shoes smiling,
When Jeff drops by and lays down the mantle
From THOUGHTS I HAVE LIVED WITH "Another Side Of Gary Lange"
Dancing Across Heaven Together Again
I was there the night that they met
Blowing my horn in a bar by the road
He came from the shadows and asked her to dance
Like a prince his hand twirled her once
Then laid her out right
I know that I'm too hot to handle
I know that I'm too cold to know
Yet I lay here wanting and aching
A cauldron too hot to handle
Please, can you handle me well
Lucy Looks Twice (Sees So Much More Then I)
The dark of the dawn and the dusk are mating
Black wings of dust
Have set upon the prairie
The tribal lands are scattered
To the sand to the sand
And the greedy white man
Has all the sand in his hand
While the question, "Who done it"?
Lies buried in time
Lost in a nation
That cares not for its answer
Oh Datsun, oh Datsun
What ails you so
I was going to call you "Good-body"
But "The Great Red Lemon" took hold
On Sacred Ground
Awash in red
Our children lay
Gunned to death
In a machine gun blaze
Notes From Rainbow IslandFlight 901
There’s a lady up there
who rips the sunrise
right from beneath the street lights
She’s a lady in flight
To The Eye Of An Owl (in memory of Jim Lange)
Jim is my designated patron saint of this Web Site,
and to whom the entire "Intimate River Project" is dedicated.
The Tale Of Fifty Roses
Flying Inside The Cuckoo's Nest
Agricultural Humanities Degree Proposal
On Sacred Ground "Martyrs Of Mercy" A Columbine Highschool Memorial Poem and my Proposal
"That Which Will Always Be"
Gary Lange © copyright
|
www.intimateriver.com Home Page | | | Introduction To Poetry
|
