Always writing, these two followed one another in sequence, mind working from places that surprised and tickled.

   Finding Goodness In The Most Unlikely Places

“Finding goodness in the most unlikely places”
Read this phrase and had to face
The fact that friends whose characters I took for granted
Showed and have bestowed the unexpected
Love, respect and qualities unknown and unsuspected
In the most unlikely situations,
Causing my relations with the whole darned world
To tears unfurled
                            the first time in my life.

Changed forever, never to return to sheer
Indifference, judgement or ill will,
Never more to stand aloof,
Just tears of gratitude to verify its proof.

Finding Goodness… 11.29.2019
Love Relationships II; Definitely Didactic; Arlene Nover Corwin


      I Stopped Being Envious

I killed my envy-filled green eye
When I beheld the day to day
Recasting of both face and a_s.
That each one changes not just
Year by future year but now and here.
So, on that day, that very minute
Envy went away to stay.

Smallest waistline, glowing skin,
Intelligence so high it whitens out the sky,
The stars and universe:
Blessings all and also curse:
Best to worse the sadly likeliest.

Round twenty-ish
I was no longer jealous -
Drew each atom to a close.
IQ middling, talents too,
Each one pondered, I felt rosy,
Grati-satsfied and well-to-do.

Lost all envy when I'd learned
That all things change.
I had discerned
Release from chain.
That’s what freedom’s meant to be
For you, for me, for everybody.

There is no competition,
Only similarity and contrast.
No one else is you, and you
Will never be a someone else.
Soothed by sharing, (mostly caring),
Shutting out the envious,
It’s obvious, that you are matchless, unsurpassed -
A one and only without need to be another cast.

I Stopped Being Envious 11.30.2019
Circling Round Reality; Definitely Didactic; Arlene Nover Corwin

When I Was, So Long Ago

When I was young I thought that fame, the famous
Was and were to aim at:
Constant, stable, durable and permanent.
Never dreamed fame came and went.

At the end of Grable* films,
The musicals in Technicolor
Leading ladies got the part
They thought they’d never get;
The men they disliked at film’s start
Became ‘the one’,
Love, applause and confirmation!

illusion, fantasy, appearance, dream!
Any/all the synonym.
Yet the young are out there
Sharing all the four above.
Five years later most shoved aside,

The false dream but delusion,
Forced by fame’s real pain,
Groom, bride divorced
To glide into a normal trade.

When one is new and in-the-making,
Ipod, tv, thousand apps,
Mental processes taken over
By the ‘happenings’ competing for
This so-called glory, popularity and stardom -
Oh, my goodness, time will come
When what and who
Is young and new
Will have, like me, a ‘long ago’
To refer to.  Then they’ll know.
Like me, they’ll know.

When I Was. So Long Ago 11.21.2019
Circling Round Ageing; Circling Round Reality; Arlene Nover Corwin

*Look up Betty Grable

Mysteries That Never Cease

There are mysteries that never cease,
Will always be:
Because of, not in spite of.
Look at progress:
Despite progress, we are more at risk than ever.
I fear, not ‘in spite of’, but ‘because of’, progress never
What it seems,
All the reams of information,
New advances, dancing in our eyes and ears
Dependant on who sees or hears,
Every positive a dormant negativeDependent on whose hands it’s in.

Then the secrets of infinity:
What, where, how, why and when;
A mystery most definitely.
And music, art
The part that improvises and creates
Out of a place inscrutable,
Wondrous, wonderful.

To never understand?
Dependant on whose hand it’s in,
Whose talent, aptitude, inborn mind
Is interested at all to find
The answers.

Mysteries That Never Cease 11.21.2019
Nature Of & In Reality; Circling Round Reality; Arlene Nover Corwin

Sifting Through The Dross

Fire, flood,
War and blood -
It is no wonder I can’t stand
The papers and TV,
Those apps aimed right at me,
The dearth of quality,
The deprivation, loss of lives,
The angst it gives.

Preferring comedy,
Cartoons by Disney…
Am I cowardly?  
Maybe.

Fixated on the negative but well aware
Of heroes all around each day, each year,
Deeds of goodness and devotion,
Yet, there is this bleak emotion, yucky fear.

Another factor is the greed:
The pressured need for growth and profit.
Prophets sow salvation’s seeds.
Many listening, few that heed.
With much to win and much to lose,
One mostly feels the costly loss.
But sifting through the dross with trust,
Stably doing what one must,
One gets a glimpse of tunnel’s light,
Decides it’s worth a willing fight
And pushes on through restive night.

Sifting Through The Dross 11.15.2019
Our Times, Our Culture II; Arlene Nover Corwin

Stumbled upon this one while collating my next book "Circling Round Ageing”. Seeing ‘ deficiencies',  I’m revising it,  the older version already in my book “Pure Nakedness” (page 30).

                    Ascetic Youth

When I was young and immature I took a ‘no’ as absolute,
Not understanding that
A ‘no’ implies alternatives.
I lacked perspective.
Who looked for alternatives;
A complement, a supplement?

Without a doubt,
I gave myself deficiencies
Of every sort.
The diet that said don’t drink milk,
Did not say don’t get calcium.
Who knew?
Who knew the wrong side of obedience Is ignorance.
And so I’m thinking,
That’s how despots do their thing!
Ascetic Youth 6.1.2010 I Is Always We Is You; Pure Nakedness; Arlene
Corwin

I was thinking about all the misinformation that we walk around with in our heads, taking it as truth.  

Putting on my lipstick and feeling silly.

In answer to those who might not get the hang of it.

Do I sound too radical?  too old fashioned?  Too silly to make the case for abstinence?

I’ve been thinking about the phenomenon of marketing for a long time now, and how, to be successful in the modern sense, using the words to mean ‘life of ease, comfort, the good life, wealth, riches, fortune opulence. luxury triumph, bestseller-ism, box-office, sell-out, celebrity, stardom, super-stardom, big name, household name, VIP, leading light, and such,  I see the up sides and I see the down sides: the demands, the touring,  all the followup pressures and the exploitation   The transience of it all.  
What to do?  How to view it?

           Marketing

.   Mister Moon Looking Through The Window
                    

Watching some Youtubes, in this case interviews with an 83 year old Ginger Rogers and a same age Gloria Swanson.  Remember them?

   The Comings & The Goings

Non-judgmental, self-explanatory,   I just love it!  Sensing A Divine

This may be the first poem of my next book to be called “Circling Around Ageing” - a subject that applies to all: each and every.

   The Aim Of Living

Although I consider faith a sine qua non without which one can accomplish nothing, I have a decidedly unromantic view about its nature . Though faith has a vague can’t-put-your-finger-on  essence, one thing can be assumed.  It works through and with the synapses of the brain.

This was written for a teeny tiny contest offered on Facebook.  It offered no reward, no money was asked for.  It was just a teeny tiny contest that had one rule: no more than four line each which could have no more than 10 words.  Theme: Truthfulness.  A cute challenge, we’ll see how it went.  It only took 11 minutes.
            Truthfulness

You Become Whatever You…#2

I don’t like to write long poems.  Most poetry readers and non-poetry readers - ones would like to attract - have not the concentrative powers or inclination to finish and/or take in the writer’s intent, style, etc.  Yet sometimes length is inevitable,  The poem and ideas form themselves, and as Mozart once told the emperor when told that there were an awful lot of notes in his composition, he answered “Only as many as are necessary!”

I re-discovered this a day or two ago and, I must unashamedly admit was altogether and immodestly charmed by it.  So here it is - again.      

            Tipsy

Although I wrote this with my own performances in mind, there was Andre Previn who, they say actually quit his job conducting the Pittsburgh Symphony because it was like throwing pearls before swine - people coughing, being there for the wrong reasons etc.  All experienced musicians and artists, I’m sure, have experienced the same!

    Pearls Before Swine.  

Sometimes I write a poem and fully satisfied I print it, send it out to Facebook friends and then, a week later catch a glimpse and see weaknesses I'd never have thought of or recognised as being poetic deficiencies.  This being the case, I offer you my just-now revised version of Euphoria.✍️

          Euphoria

Inspired by a photo sent to me with a request that I write a poem.  And so I did!

Letter To Those Who Take Life ✍️ ☮️

Those who take life have no understanding of the prize:
The measure, treasure, pleasure of existence’ meaning.
Those who take life too grow older,
Too regret if they are wise,
Realising one day everybody dies,
Including they themselves.

Life’s triangle from the first indrawing breath -
Birth and death
                         and all between,                            
One meaning being to prolong
One’s own and creatures weak and strong;
To NOT take but care for each form,
Our fellow humans the first norm.

Life, birth, death and all in between -
What comes thereafter to be seen,
The how, when to be left for then;
Is ever speculation.

Now has beauty, and our duty
Is to see and cherish every blemish,
Not diminishing the self or others.

Love and caring, action sharing;
All you need to make life better
Is this creed and poem, a letter
Aimed at those who dare
                                        take life.
Letter To Those Who Take Life 6.23.2019 Birth, Death & In Between III; Arlene Nover Corwin✍️

Performance Mantra

I noticed how people argue, and how what should be a win-win situation often goes off the rails.  I got me to thinking...

It isn't often I write wholly optimist poetry, BUT today was one!
        Lucky Days

I'm not a nostalgic person. but occasionally I run across an old poem that feels worth putting out there for its universality and perhaps poetic value.  Here is one such:⌚️

Once again a mini- wondering has pushed me to the keyboard (not the piano this time).  Three hours have passed and here is the result:

       Can One’s Meditations Influence The World?

(Written to Joe Maita’s site JerryjazzMusician who, now and again calls out to jazz musicians everywhere for relevant poetry.  A great idea!  Especially for us jazz musician enthusiasts and non-musician enthusiasts without whom jazz might never exist.

It’s always such a pleasure to get your call to arms.  Wrote this just now just for you - and the rest of the world, natch.

    Sitting Down To Play

This is actually a spontaneously inspired message of love and appreciation, to new found Facebook friends from all over this varied globe.  

This is to show how development’s ‘evolution’ works.  It’s a phenomenon worth exhibiting every now and then.  Don’t you think? I write this to writer and artist friends!✍️
Love, Arlene

Wrote this 2.24.1998: Home Truths before I ever got a computer or published a book.  This is a revision and a refinement. Tighter, better meter, chopped and cut, more condensed and readable.  Much better, I hope.

1st version 2.24.1998
For the man with eyes/The universe lies//In the stories I tell/Through typewriter’s ribbon,/The rhymes that spell/Out the good, ex-uruban nature, food,/My neighbourhood,/The body-me’s,/ The mystic, politic,/Prosaic, partly;/Energy or laziness,/Clarity or haziness;Words that hurt and words of hope/(Mostly hope, for hope encloses./Criticism separates/While hope’s ambrosias/ Fuel the fates/To spurt and cope,/Give life to heart’s least/Beat and last.)Home truths open personal;/Signs of weakness and reversal;/Love with and without libido;/God with and without a credo./home truths for the one with eyes,/
Worldwide spread on paper size A4.

               Home Truths
             ( latest version)

For the man with eyes,
The universe lies in the stories I tell
Through typewriter’s ribbon;
With rhymes that spell out,
The good, food, my old neighbourhood,
Body-ness, politics: prosaic partlys,
With energy, laziness, clarity, haziness,
Hurtful words, hopeful words,
Hopeful curds, for hope encloses,
While nick-picking separates all hope’s ambrosias,
Fueling the fates to spurt upwards and cope,
Keeping life heartbeats last, least, lost a-throbbing…
Home truths are personal,
Signs of shortcomings and signs of reversal.
Love with and without libido;
God with and without a credo.
Home truths are for one with two eyes to surmise,
Spreading worldwide on A4’s paper size.

home truth
noun (usually home truths)
an unpleasant fact about oneself, especially as pointed out by another person: what he needed was someone to tell him a few home truths.
Home Truths 6.13.2019 Circling Round Reality; Arlene Nover Corwin
((found, by the way, on a floating scrap)
8.3x11.7inches

I hope you’re not getting tired of my little inspired inserts.  I love them all (my small children) each one that shows up one after the other.  Sequences that surprise even me, the author, each one a little world, a little microcosmos.

The Houseguest You Never Want To Leave

It’s So Much Easier To Say Yes

I’ve decided to respond to those who sweetly ask how to write a poem.  I’m not the best.  There is no best.  Arrest your own particular talent and bring it to its crest.✍️

From Whence The Drive...

( I was not sure if You Can Be Sure Made it to print, so here it is again if it didn't the first time).

I’ve decided to respond to those who sweetly ask how to write a poem.  I’m not the best.  There is no best.  Arrest your own particular talent and bring it to its crest.

         You Can Be Sure

I’ve decided to respond to those who sweetly ask how to write a poem.  I’m not the best.  There is no best.  Arrest your own particular talent and bring it to its crest.

        You Can Be Sure

Just wrote this and had to share it from the love it gave me.

    And Where Are You At The Moment?

We’ll Call It Meditation

The Good Thing With *** After Eighty
                     (a metaphor only)

The good thing with *** after eighty
Is that it’s never flighty,
Never to be taken lightly
Although playful to the fullest.

Having age’s benefits, which far from few,
The very slowness giving each and every feeling newness
Of a you-ness never felt in springtime’s days:
Rediscovered in a hundred lovely, treasured ways.

Yeah, yeah, one reads the lists:
This, that and fists of facts:
The thin, the fat,
The morning aches in joint and bone
With sleep that’s partial, un-profound.
Multifarious the pains and ills.
And still, the benefits outweigh.
So never underestimate sagacity,
The knowledge and experience; the knowledge from experience
Which only comes from several hundred thousand segments.
Several thousand days behind,

Find yourself and who you are.
Differentiate the light from dark.
See the differences and then unite them.
Learn to welcome and not fight them.
There are many good things with the after eighty ***.

The Good Things With *** After Eighty 6.2.2019 Circling Round Eros II; Circling Round Ageing; Arlene Nover Corwin

I Like…

This will be a part of my soon to come book Swedish Book.  It's called "Vad Som Helst" or "Anything".

I think this I beautiful.

An Entire Slowing Down

Up all night pondering this deep question:
        Examining Modesty:
      (a modest examination)

To all my cynical, fear-filled, skeptical friends.  And all the others, whatever variety of category you find yourself in.
Love,
Arlene

To grandmas everywhere:

             Today’s Grandma

While standing at the sink doing the dishes:

Today’s thought.  (Isn’t thought a strange phenomenon?  It chooses itself)

Hello world! Though written in 1997, how I love this one (Happen to find it while editing “Swedish Book”).

.          Collapsing In On Itself
  
A week-dead pike on local stone wall,
Placed there or dropped by some passing seagull
And ignored; once fresh and full now meagre and dull,
Is almost the same as the day that it came,
But entrails have started to go.
(Are they ‘entrails’? I don’t really know.)
Of course it has innards; the roe, liver gall,
And I’d guess there’s a stomach.
It think it’s a pike - maybe perch, not a haddock!
The thing that’s essential, its cardinal what-ness
Is something that shows now whenever I to pass it.
Everything rotten or heading that way,
Falls in on itself in its terminal rot-ness.

Collapsing In On Itself 8.16.1997/revised and amended 5.13.2019 Swedish Book; Circling Round Nature; Birth, Death & In Between; Nature Of & In Itself; Arlene Nover Corwin