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a rough inventory

Posted by William F. DeVault | Filed under Abstra, Aubergine, Brigit, Goldenheart, Journal, Poetry, The Panther, the Leopard, the Selke

In my spare time (ask anyone who knows me, I define "manic") I have been polishing my poetic inventory. Well, actually my overall writing inventory. Just to see what all I have. Hey, it beats the hell out of reruns of "Two and a Half Men".

My current catalog breaks down thus (as of midnight, August 1, 2008. We all know that I have written about 50 new works since then…deal with it).

  • 18,642 poems
  • 143 essays
  • 82 short stories
  • 3 novels in various states of completion
  • 3 screenplays in various states of completion

This does not account my general discourse on my various blogs, which numbers int he thousands of entries.

The poetry breaks down, as best I can figure, out of the 18,642

  • 285 sonnets
  • 46 villanelles
  • 22 poems greater than 100 lines

Credited inspiration:

  • 2,182 to Abstra (the abstraction muse)
  • 740 to The Panther
  • 488 to Aubergine (I have gone back to using totem on this one)
  • 94 to The Leopard
  • 82 to The Selke
  • 72 to Brigit
  • 55 to The Goldenheart

Some of these numbers are a little rough. I tried not to dwell on anything for too long.

So what does it all mean? I don’t know, but it was an interesting exercise that gives me fodder for internal debate for a while. And don’t think that the numbers mean much. In terms of classic, timeless and quality pieces, I would say that Panther is way down on the list, for instance. I will let history decide which muses were really luses and not just channels for a generic creative spirit needing outlet.

 

 

Read more | Comments (0) | August 12th, 2008

song stuck in my head

Posted by William F. DeVault | Filed under Abstra, Brigit, Poetry, Psyche, music, the Leopard, the Selke

I think this is the first time this has ever happened to me. A song is wedge in my head, playing soundtrack to the hours I am spending here, at the computer, editing some technical documents and writing a proposal for a client. Hairy-scary proposal, too. You don’t want to know which branch of the US Armed Forces it is for or what they do with our services if we win.

But back to the song. Wow. It is one of my own. One of the ones off of my CDs. I can’t recall it happening to me before. But the taste, which is the musical version of the taste of remembrance, is doing its thing in my brain, and I am enjoying it. I am rediscovering me.

Not a bad thing, I think. I am happy.

The poem, itself, is something of a miracle. Clearly an Abstra work (one written about not a single person, but an abstraction) I still called upon specific memories of specific women at different moments as I wrote it and later recorded it. The slow, malevolent and mournful guitar was my vision.

I conjoured the Leopard, the Selke, Brigit and Psyche to fuel the work.

Read more | Comments (0) | May 31st, 2008

an update on the new book

Posted by William F. DeVault | Filed under Abstra, As such

Put this in your pipe and smoke it:

I am working on the manuscript for my next book of verse:

"As such…love poems of a new life"

and I started collecting together the best poems I have written of or for Candy since I first started actually writing of or to her (for you trivia buffs, the poem was "Above room temperature" written on September 1, 2007…and I don’t think the lady herself knew it was about her at the time. It was a complicated time and I ran a poor second for more than a lap or two.) and I encountered a problem.

Too many poems. Way too many for the modest volume I had envisioned.

So…tough luck. This will not be the juggernaut that was "The Compleat Panther Cycles" but many of those poems were not to the Panther but to an ideal and an abstraction, and they were written over a year and a half, not 4 months. We are looking at about 170-200 poems at this time (a very thick volume). Thicker than "from an unexpected quarter", thrice the thickness of "Ronin in the Temple of Aphrodite".

Candy, thank you for the inspiration, really…but sheesh! A guy has to sleep and eat. How bad is it going to be when we’re together in the same room?

Heh. Heh. Heh. That’s a different kind of poetry.

Read more | Comments (2) | February 18th, 2008

staring through the glare, she is there. and she shines.

Posted by William F. DeVault | Filed under Abstra, Poetry

The title line is a poetic fragment.

It is driving me crazy. The fragments of poetry flitting in and out of my awareness as my preconscious processes and propagates the phrase "she shines".

Who is "she"? What does it mean "shines"? Is she an abstraction, an amalgam, a prophecy or a singular woman from my past or present? Elements of the poems that are whispering themselves to me bear elements of any of several ex-lovers: Nancy’s brilliance and grace, Jan’s intellect and sense of humour, Ann’s beauty and fragility, Brigit’s charisma and cunning, Karla’s vulnerability and talent. All goddesses, all. All shone (shined? did shine?) and shine on.

Perhaps I am just flashing on the whole. Or perhaps, perhaps I am extracting an archetypal menu for my next all-consuming passion.

Perhaps. Perhaps. But, regardless of what it means or how well I express it, she shines.

Whoever the hell "she" is.

Read more | Comments (2) | May 31st, 2007