The Last Romantic Verb: Wordslinger

There are those who argue, persuasively, that this is a masterpiece. I listen to it and I am generally pleased, but I can pick flaws...

But, my pickiness notwithstanding...

Starting at 19 minutes and 36 seconds, the Wordslinger rises. A funky bass...percussion...and then that guitar, haunting...sixties jazz or country/western, I can't be sure...but effective...

Forty second later, the words of SACRED SMILE erupt. Written to a lover that I worshipped, that I sacrificed for, that I loved without question, as lovers should. And her smile should be sacred to you.

Barely a minute later we get PINK JADE: HEAL SWIFT. A plea to a lover to dump her excess baggage, the baggage that keeps you apart. Written to a writer I was enamored with, it was an attempt to get her to use her talent to purify herself, to give up the anger and pain of her past. Tough, I know.

At 22 minutes and twenty four seconds, Bragi is back in BRAGI, AWAKENING IN HIS TOMB. A strange and exotic word structure, it invokes the lover, finding himself isolated, dead to the world, fighting his way back into the light, into life. (the line "barren bones and paramour" is actually a title of another poem...). "Love: a drug and an addiction I use and sell..." truer words were never spoken of the poet, of the Amomancer.

"Take the snake of William Blake" is an oft analyzed line in REBORN, which arrives at twenty-five seconds and twenty-four minutes. This piece is aggressive and crisp. The need to pass through the fire to achieve enlightenment, epiphany and rebirth.

WAITING FOR THE PENTECOST is not a poem about church. Okay, this piece that falls at 25:41 into the CD, is about a different faith. Faith in passion, in kisses. Anger at a fled lover. A purging expression of pain and grief. "As I am frail, so is the sun an inconstant lover...". "Where evidence of thorns is regarded in accepting the legacy of you."

Twenty seven minutes and twenty three seconds, we find THE DRAGON WOKE LAST NIGHT, which is built on the bones of an ancient, lost work of mine called THE DRAGON DIES TONIGHT. This is a piece about the will to be reborn, to transcend pain and disappointment. "And he will taste the wind, again, and he will taste the wind."

The legends surrounding IN THE ARMS OF THE DRAGON are true, I wrote it aloud, trapped in traffic on Lincoln Boulevard in Marina Del Rey, finally pulling into my Venice Beach apartment's parking lot and racing inside to chant it as I wrote it down. It was written for a lover who was afraid she was too damaged to love me, and this was a reassurance that I was ready for her, as she was, willing to help her anyway I could. It starts at 28:57 and is a fairly brief piece, but potent.

So that at 29 minutes and 55 seconds, we sense A VILE ATTAR, the perfume of a false lover. A venom spat at lies and betrayals. "A heart pulses equinox...locks piqued..." (Like the play on words?) I was perturbed, but realized in writing this that I was recovering, and would keep my tongue, not publicly humiliating her by exposing her for her lies and actions. Which surprised me. I felt so angry, but could not, would not, pull that trigger. It was reassuring.

We slip BEHIND THE FACADE at 31:16 to celebrate the pleasures of a forbidden love affair. Playing at being lovers when we have made oaths to stay apart. It is an easy mode to slip into...and addiction I have broken myself of. I hope. Listen for the thunder.

Taking a risk I fling myself, at 32 minutes and 41 seconds, FROM THE PARAPET. Yes, I like the story of Icarus and use it on occasion as a metaphor (ever read my poem, ICARUS? Great piece...seek it out on my website, if you haven't read it.). I invoke Cat Stevens in the opening line. Listen to my invocation of the pain of betrayal, "when the blade..." And watch for my reference to Phaeton.

We take it up a notch now, IN THE MEMORY OF LOVERS, which is a musing on seeking, or at least being open to, new love. It begins at 34:09 and is punctuated by my resolve: "I will take no pretender, again, to my bed". A resolve to live. "The black brick'd road"...a great image. I have wept upon reading this work in public.

And, at 36 minutes and 36 seconds, we finally get to THE SATYR'S SUIT. Having decided to find new love, a seduction is woven. "Stay with me a while, play with me a while, play with me a while and I will make you smile...to the best of my abilities." The hunger is palpable. And real.

And as the final chords of that remarkable guitar fade, we slide into BEASTS OF LEGEND...