poetry friday

Joni Mitchell: ultimate blue

~ jama ~ 32 Comments

“I sing my sorrow, and I paint my joy.” ~ Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell photographed in the Nevada desert by Henry Diltz (1978).

It’s no surprise that the ultimate “blue” song comes from a musician who’s also a painter.

Joni Mitchell has said that she applies the principles of painting to her songwriting. One of her old art teachers once told her, “If you can paint with a brush, you can paint with words.” In “Blue,” the title track from her iconic 1971 album, she sings the color of her heart — a plaintive love song and “somber lullaby” of haunting beauty.

Mitchell is one of the few singer-songwriters whose lyrics read like poetry. She’s largely inspired by personal memories, relating her stories through vivid imagery, striking metaphors, judicious use of rhyme and inventive turns of phrase. “Blue” is achingly honest; there is insecurity and resignation, but also optimism.

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“Portrait of James Taylor” by Joni Mitchell (Christmas 1970).
BLUE
by Joni Mitchell

Blue songs are like tattoos
You know I've been to sea before
Crown and anchor me
Or let me sail away
Hey Blue, here is a song for you
Ink on a pin
Underneath the skin
An empty space to fill in
Well there're so many sinking now
You've got to keep thinking
You can make it thru these waves
Acid, booze, and ass
Needles, guns, and grass
Lots of laughs lots of laughs
Everybody's saying that hell's the hippest way to go
Well I don't think so
But I'm gonna take a look around it though
Blue I love you

Blue here is a shell for you
Inside you'll hear a sigh
A foggy lullaby
There is your song from me

~ copyright © 1971 Joni Mitchell Music, Inc. (BMI)

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clements brothers blues

~ jama ~ 44 Comments

“Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.” ~ Maya Angelou

New album: “Dandelion Breeze” by The Clements Brothers.

There’s nothing like a good song to lift your spirits. If you’re lucky, sometimes one musical surprise can lead to another.

Earlier this year, while scouring YouTube for a good cover version of Simon and Garfunkel’s, “April Come She Will,” I chanced upon a video featuring New England singer-songwriter and guitarist George Clements. His rendition was my favorite of the dozens I had listened to.

Hello, George Clements.

Wow. The beautiful voice, the exquisite guitar picking (and yes, the blue eyes!). Who is this guy, I wondered? How had I missed him before? As a longtime S&G fan, I just knew I had stumbled upon something quite special.

So I listened to George’s other swoon-worthy covers — Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Paul McCartney, more Paul Simon — a veritable playlist of all my fave singer-songwriters. Then I learned George had played Paul Simon in an off-broadway show called “The Simon and Garfunkel Story.” Well, no wonder.

But there was more. To my surprise and delight, I discovered George has an identical twin named Charles ( I love twins!) who also has a beautiful voice and plays upright bass.

Blue-eyed twin musicians in blue (who could ask for anything more?).

Double the deliciousness, double the fun. Yes, please!

Charles and George grew up in a musical family, have been uniquely “in tune” since the womb, and have been playing music together for as long as they can remember. Another nice surprise: they are the youngest sons of popular children’s book author Andrew Clements, who sadly passed away in 2019. (Did you know that before breaking into publishing he’d moved to NYC to pursue a career as a folk singer-songwriter?)

Both twins are formally trained: Charles studied at the New England Conservatory of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, while George is a Berklee College of Music alum.

Cutie pie twins (my guess: Charles in the blue t-shirt?).

After fronting The Lonely Heartstring Band for about seven years, the brothers decided to rebrand as a duo, releasing their debut full-length album, Dandelion Breeze (Plow Man Records) in August 2023. This acoustic gem is an appealing blend of bluegrass, roots, jazz, rock, and classical influences, elevated by sublime vocal harmonies and instrumental virtuosity. The album features all original material save one track, and I’ve pretty much had it on continuous loop the last few months.

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Elizabeth Alexander’s “Blues”

~ jama ~ 27 Comments
“The Blue Room” by Suzanne Valadon (1923).
BLUES
by Elizabeth Alexander

I am lazy, the laziest
girl in the world. I sleep during
the day when I want to, 'til
my face is creased and swollen,
'til my lips are dry and hot. I 
eat as I please: cookies and milk
after lunch, butter and sour cream
on my baked potato, foods that
slothful people eat, that turn
yellow and opaque beneath the skin.
Sometimes come dinnertime Sunday
I am still in my nightgown, the one
with the lace trim listing because
I have not mended it. Many days
I do not exercise, only
consider it, then rub my curdy
belly and lie down. Even
my poems are lazy. I use
syllabics instead of iambs,
prefer slant to the gong of full rhyme,
write briefly while others go
for pages. And yesterday,
for example, I did not work at all!
I got in my car and I drove 
to factory outlet stores, purchased
stockings and panties and socks
with my father's money.

To think, in childhood I missed only
one day of school per year. I went
to ballet class four days a week
at four-forty-five and on
Saturdays, beginning always
with plie, ending with curtsy.
To think, I knew only industry,
the industry of my race
and of immigrants, the radio
tuned always to the station
that said, Line up your summer
job months in advance. Work hard
and do not shame your family,
who worked hard to give you what you have.
There is no sin but sloth. Burn
to a wick and keep moving.

I avoided sleep for years,
up at night replaying 
evening news stories about
nearby jailbreaks, fat people
who ate fried chicken and woke up
dead. In sleep I am looking
for poems in the shape of open
V's of birds flying in formation,
or open arms saying, I forgive you, all.

~ from Body of Life (Tia Chucha Press, 1996).
“Canada Geese Flying Over a Norfolk Marsh,” by MacKenzie Thorpe.

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[yummy review] La fiesta de las pupusas/The Fiesta of the Pupusas: El Salvador by Jorge Argueta and Gabriela Morán

~ jama ~ 28 Comments

“In El Salvador the full moon is a celestial pupusa.” ~ Francisco X. Alarcón

Right about now, I’m hungry for a warm, savory pupusa. Filling of choice? Pork, beans and melty cheese. Don’t skimp on the salsa roja or curtido! Officially declared the national dish of El Salvador in 2005, pupusas are the ultimate happy-making comfort food and the delectable subject of Jorge Argueta’s new picture book.

As a big fan of his bilingual cooking poem series published by Groundwood Books (Sopa de frijoles/Bean Soup (2009), Arroz con leche/Rice Pudding (2010), Guacamole (2012), Tamalitos (2013), and Salsa (2015)), I was excited to see La fiesta de las pupusas/The Fiesta of the Pupusas: El Salvador (Luna’s Press Books, 2024), charmingly illustrated by Salvadoran artist and graphic designer Gabriela Morán.

This joyful celebration of El Salvador’s favorite food is also a love letter to Argueta’s home country, where his family once owned a restaurant and he grew up with the colors, smells, and sounds of traditional foods being lovingly prepared by his mother and aunts in his own kitchen.

As the story opens, our friendly narrator explains that pupusas are a very popular, magical food in El Salvador, where it’s eaten morning, noon, and night. Pupusas are made from corn or rice flour, were once cooked in clay griddles, but are now made on big metal grills. And they’re round!

Las pupusas son redonditas, 
son como llantitas,
son como la letra O,
son como la luna,
son como el sol.

Pupusas are round, 
like little tires, 
like the letter O, 
like the moon,
like the sun.

Though most pupusas are filled with beans and cheese, some are made with cheese and loroco, a tiny white fragrant flower:

 ¡Qué rico huele el loroco!
Es una flor blanquita como las nubes. 
Picadita, la flor se revuelve con el queso
y se pone en la masa haciéndola una bolita. 
La bolita se aplasta aplaudiendo.
Así se hacen pupusas de loroco.
¡Ayyy, qué loroco, más loco y qué delicioso!

Loroco smells so wonderful!
It’s a little flower, white as clouds.
Chopped-up loroco gets stirred in with the cheese
and kneaded in the corn dough to make a little ball. 
You flatten the ball by clapping.
That’s how you make loroco pupusas.
Ahhh, loroco, it’s loco, and yummy in the tummy!
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licking my chops, kissing my fingertips

~ jama ~ 22 Comments

“There is no sincerer love than the love of food.” ~ George Bernard Shaw

“Breakfast with Humpty Dumpty” by Michael Cheval.
COME EAT WITH ME AND BE MY LOVE
by Cathy Bryant

Come eat with me and be my love
and we will buy some plus size pants
and gorge on sweet syruped kisses
down supermarket food aisles dance
until thrown off the premises,
my fine eclair, my lemon puff.

Come eat with me and lose your scales
and gain lasagne, served with wine,
and ripe persimmons, plums and pears
my fragrant fruit, oh lover mine,
and we will laugh at diet cares
and low-fat bread that swiftly stales.

Come eat with me and roll on cake
and find crumbs in each other's hair
and nibble on as far as we can
until, replete, we lie quite bare
on our smooth bed of marzipan,
my love who dares to shake and bake.

Come eat with me and feel our flesh
as soft as custard, warm as toast
as comforting as treacle tart
as healthy as a hot nut roast,
my love, who nestles in my heart
- no sell-by date. Forever fresh.

~ from Savor: Poems for the Tongue, edited by Brennan Breeland and Stan Galloway (Friendly City Books 2024).
“Candlelight Dinner” by Raija Nokkala.

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