Cape Canaveral Poet Laureate

In honor of Thanksgiving, I wrote this poem.  It is a song, made up of many couplets. It is easy to remember to be thankful for the positive things, but this reminds us to also be thankful for the things that did not go as planned, because that is how we learn and grow.  "Magic words" is a reference to "please" and "thank you".  "The pen is mightier than the sword" is an old saying meaning that words can solve problems that violence cannot, and with less harmful effects.  Because that saying is a metaphor, the next line shows gratitude for metaphors.  The femme fatale, ingénue, and protagonist are types of characters used in story telling.  So, this is showing thanks for stories and literature.  Der Blaue Reiter is a group of artists from the early 1900s who united under philosophies surrounding art.  It included artists such as  Wassily Kandinsky, Alexej von Jawlensky, Marianne von Werefkin, and native German artists, such as Franz Marc,

(Photo courtesy of City of Cape Canaveral) On Friday, October 4, during our wonderful Friday Fest, the City dedicated its new mural, One Giant Leap for Mankind,  by artist Anón .  You can find his work on Facebook or at this link:    https://anon.myportfolio.com/?fbclid=IwAR2ESNmbrfCul2xcC5gS8vuGBbBjd2xExQ1SzMUaKH-DGcXSV5recZBfFDc I was honored to be part of that event and meet the artist, who, aside from being talented, is a super nice guy.  He brought his wife and new child to the dedication.  His mural served as inspiration for a new poem in the form of a song.  This song is comprised of four mono-rhymed quatrains (meaning each stanza is four lines long with a rhyme scheme of AAAA, BBBB, CCCC, DDDD, with perfect and loose rhymes).  The title is based on the location and topic of the mural.   The first line is from JFK’s famous speech that set us on our lunar path. The trajectory refernces the conical path portrayed on the mural from Cape Canaveral to the Moon, while the “highl

Tonight at 7:00 the City will be dedicating the mural at Friday Fest.  The artist will be present and much fun for all will be had.  Come and enjoy!

This is a new original song focused on the wonderful environment in which we are so blessed to live and the wonderful feelings experienced by the residents.  It uses imagery to conjure emotions and paint scenes.  Some of that imagery is more abstract than others, meaning that it is not necessarily clear to the reader, and is open to interpretation.  For instance, the chapel referenced in the first line has two meanings to me.  One is building sand castle towns on the beach, the other is the spiritual freedom that comes with taking a stroll on the beach (kind of like a church in its own sense, that we conjure up just taking it all in).  The medicine is the sun and sea air that cleanses us and helps reduce the stress and transport us to our happy place. The verses rhyme, but the refrain does not.  The refrain adds lines each time it is repeated, making it what we call a strophe.  This is done to build tension.  Tension is a word people use to basically describe an element within the po

This song is in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch, Moon landing, and splashdown.  It was a great mission and a beautiful moment that brought the world together.   This song uses "personification".  That means that we give a non-human thing human-like characteristics.  Here, the narrator is speaking to the Moon as if it were a person and a friend. The narrator even sees the Moon as having "hands".    There is "wordplay" in the first line with the word "distant".  This word can mean things are physically far apart, but it can also mean (especially when it comes to relationships) that people have lost touch or emotionally grown apart.   There is a lot of "allusions" here.  Most of it making reference to important dates, locations, equipment, or other items related to the Moon missions.  For instance, the "Gods of time and of light" phrase refers to Saturn and Apollo (the launch vehicle and the sp

A haiku is form of structured poetry derived from short Japanese poetry.  Although there are many interpretations of what a haiku is, the traditional haiku in English is a three line poem.  The first line contains five syllables, the second line contains seven syllables, and the third line contains five syllables.  So the traditional English haiku structure is referred to as 5-7-5.    Being a short form of highly structured poetry, it is a simple form for anyone interested to attempt. Can you come up with any haikus?  Due to the restrictive nature of the form, feel free to omit words that are superfluous or that do not add meaning.  For instance, rather than writing "The waves wash the Moon", you could write "Waves welcome moonrise".  Think about it like writing a telegraph or a quick text message.  You have a short amount of space to convey as much meaning as possible.  Try writing one and sharing it. In honor of the Summer of Space and the 50th anniversary of

At tonight's City Council meeting, the City will be making a presentation of a Proclamation to members of the Brevard County Historical Commission commemorating City Resolution 1969-30, which commends the historical Apollo 11 Moon Landing of July 20, 1969, and declaring June 21, 2019 through September 23, 2019 as the Summer of Space in Cape Canaveral.  Here is that Proclamation: I will be reading the historical proclamation at the City Council meeting.  As a writer, it is important to understand language usage.  Looking at this proclamation, we can examine its structure and learn about how the City uses structure to make this proclamation. This type of writing is generally called a "resolution" because it shows that the signatory is resolved to perform an action. The first thing we can see are statements that begin with the word "whereas".  These are generally referred to as "recitals" or the "preamble".  As used in recitals, wh

Happy 4th of July, everyone.  In honor of our great nation's birthday, it seemed appropriate to post some poetry and songs dealing with America.  The Freedom of Speech guaranteed to the people of our country is precious.  It allows us all to express ourselves openly and honestly in a variety of ways.  So, here are some examples that express patriotism in all its glorious forms. This is a song from the band Marcy Playground called "America".  It describes different parts of America and seeing the beauty in it all, creating a feeling of home: Then there are songs that look at some of the not so beautiful aspects of America, but the desire of our citizens to want to help.  An example is "The Ghost of Tom Joad" by Bruce Springsteen.  Tom Joad being the protagonist in the John Steinbeck novel "The Grapes of Wrath".  This song sees the hardship of some American folks and tells the story of a man wanting to help. There are songs that look at specifi

Another poem from my application packet was a song.  A song is a type of poetry that is generally musical.  It tends to have some semblance of rhythm and melody.  Songs can be lyrical (focused more on expression or conveyance of emotions) or narrative (telling a story) or both.  Some songs utilize rhymes and meter, some do not.  Some songs, generally called instrumentals, do not contain words at all, but utilize music to convey the story or emotion.  Some songs have clear meanings, some are more abstract, and some are purely nonsense verse (noting that sometimes nonsense can still convey deep emotional ties or humor).  This narrative song utilizes many techniques and tools to convey the meaning.  It starts with a "simile" (a comparison of things that uses the words "like" or "as").  It also uses "dialect" and "colloquialism" (dialect is the type of language used in an area, and colloquialism is the way people actually talk in a give

As part of my application, I decided to try my hand at a sonnet.  Having never written one before, I though it would be interesting to tie my hands with strict structure.  In general, a sonnet it a fourteen line poem.  The word "sonnet" comes from the Italian word for "little song".  Although the structure and meter have changed over time, most of them follow some sort of strict structure  and rhyme scheme.   Shakespeare wrote many sonnets, and is the reason most Americans are familiar with the term.  He wrote in iambic pentameter, which meant that syllable stressing must also follow a strict form in each ten syllable line.  The more common structure for sonnets are  ABAB CDCD EFEF GG and  ABBA CDDC EFFE GG, but the list goes on.  Some not only contain quatrains and a couplet, but triplets as well.  Remember  that the letters represent rhyming words at end of lines. A quatrain is a group of four lines, and a couplet is a group of two lines.   I wanted to utiliz

Our town has so many beautiful offerings.  The crossovers to the beach are an amazing place to watch the ocean and pay attention to the beautiful hammocks and dunes we have here.  The boardwalk at Manatee Sanctuary Park offers a wonderful view of the river and the mangroves.  Watch the sunset from one, and the sunrise from the other.  Mix it up, as the colors and wildlife change throughout the day.  Also, our community garden, Kairos, is situated just between the two.  Be sure to stop and see what is growing.  This is a free verse poem, so there is no set rhyme or meter.  It incorporates our own unique ecology and represents the wonderful balance between nature and humans in our community.   From the Crossover and Boardwalk, Smiling A skein of sea grapes in the hammock Forms a welcoming arch Live oaks create a carpet of acorns And pollen settles on the path Unfolding flawlessly into the dune Where glory vines unfurl their first Violet flowers of the season Ma