Robert C Howard

Robert C Howard Sep 2013

I see the cover of the book of you my friend
with its catchy graphics
and beckoning fonts and title,
but how could I truly know the pages
of the stories that speak inside?

If the unique and essential you
were bound into a book,
I might scan the index,
or watch a Talk Show interview.

I could pull a bio off the shelf,
and trace the paths from who you were
to who you might become
sipping tea in my bentwood rocker
and who knows,
you might do the same for me.

My curiosity is keen my friend,
because our chapters are interwoven.
The air we breathe and our chosen paths
have sewn our lives together.
The common ground we walk
is crisscrossed by our footprints.

If I blink for just an instant
I notice that new pages have been
appended to your book.
Even the cover has changed
and so it is with mine.

So I own without regret or sorrow that
I can never know the book of you (or me)
whose infinite shelves of once-told stories
await some distant final chapter.

*September, 2013

Robert C Howard Sep 2013

Johann Sebastian Bach

Beethoven once said of the cantor of Leipzig
“Not a stream but an ocean.”

Sebastian Bach wove sonic tapestries
and scoffed at notions of genius
“Anyone who pays the price can do it.”

Whether for Sunday’s choir or *****
or for a palace fete of state,
The fountains of his bounteous spring
embellished every age and station.

Yet he could crack a joke or two
in a cantata to coffee’s pleasures -
sipping from a sturdy cup
of nature's matchless brew.

Flutists, fiddlers, singers, organists,
children and masters alike,
have netted hearty sustenance
from the seas of his boundless vision.

But modesty forbade him boast
the importance of his station -
affixing to his noblest works,
a trio of humblest words,

“Soli Deo Gloria.”

December, 2007

Not so much a poem as a narrative tribute. I'll work on this some more.

Robert C Howard Sep 2013

Beethoven and Schiller

Symphony No.9 in d – minor, opus 125

Allegro ma non troppo

The silence gives way gently
to quiet tremolos rustling
beneath the beckoning
call of distant horns.
A melodic cell, nascent in violins,
spirals down to the somber depths
of cello and contrabass.

A sudden cataclysm
shakes the hall like thunder
heralding our universal birth.
Gales of sonic force
splashed like turbulent waves
against the rocky shores.

Drifting sans glass or sextant
on a sea of expanding mystery,
we gaze to the heavens
in hopes for a glimpse
of our father’s aetherial dwelling.

Molto vivace

With hands intertwined,
we dance in a ring
to the capricious airs
of the laughing gods
with Zeus himself on timpani.
So pass the wine and kiss your neighbor
and fill your glass to the brim!
For today is yesterday’s morrow
and tomorrow’s history.

Adagio molto e cantabile

There is no greater and more healing light
than the candles that shine
in the eyes of a friend
or loving spouse -
tenderly lighting our paths
through the storms and fogs
that cloud our lives.
Peace abides in a friend's embrace.

An die Freude

Against raging storms of
strife and sorrow.
we hear a healing voice
A calm cello hymn -
that migrates up to higher cords
of violas and violins -
breaking into joyous song
sung by trumpets, winds and drums.

Casting all shrillness of discord aside,
a baritone lines out Schiller’s ode -
and sings of Elysium’s daughter.
Quartet and chorus enter in
proclaiming hope for the human family,

A tenor raises a stein to valor
in the company of his friends.
The quiet pulsing of horns and winds
ushers in torrents of ecstasy.
Arms clasped in communal embrace,
we gaze to heaven on bended knees
then rise with a majestic fugue
that illuminates our souls
like a blazing Alpine dawn.

In a cyclone of passion,
Schiller's words and Beethoven's notes
entreat us to restore
what custom has rent apart
that each of us may live our lives
as brothers in heavenly sanctuary.

May 25, 2007

#symphony #beethoven #ninth #schiller

Robert C Howard Sep 2013

On Conducting Carmina Burana

Stillness preceded the sonic storm.
Then the baton plummeted,
To summon low “D’s” from orchestral depths
And a hundred voices roared, “O Fortuna!”

The throbbing ritual had begun!
Rhythms drove and lurched
Through songs of Springtime, alcohol and lust.

Brasses flared.
Muted strings cast veils over the hall.
The chorus hummed and shouted
And tender solos wafted
Over graceful flute arabesques.

The thin white stick carved the air into segments
And by some mystical synchronicity
Instruments and voices reveled together -
Medieval Latin decked out in modern attire.

A baritone sang from a tavern
With electrifying irresponsibility.
The counter-tenor mournfully chanted
The complaint of an entrée roasting on a spit.

The love of my life skied her voice
To a high “D” then descended -
And we turned Fortune’s wheel back full circle
Rounding out this earth song beyond all comparing.

“O Fortuna!”
O Fortuna, indeed!

*July, 2006

Robert C Howard Aug 2013

Two Frogs and a Toad

Factory Frog

A frog of the Greatest Generation,
Rosie fastened skins to the planes -
all the while ceaslessly chattering.
All of the other factory frogs
covered their ears or plugged them
since none could abide the endless pattering
of Rosie the Ribbiter.

Basketball Frog

Few frogs try their hands(?) at basketball
but Kermit (Z. Phrogg not D.Frog)
gave it the old college try.
He wanted to play like his hero Alcindor
before or after his name change.
But never managed to loft the ball
o'er the edge of the basket's rim
so he finally gave it up and sang,
'It's not easy being Kareem.'

For all the Cane Toads in Australia*
*To the tune of Froggy Went a'Courtin.

Toady went a'courtin' he did ride, Hmmm.
Toady went a'courtin' he did ride, Hmmm.
A toady went a'courtin' he did ride
A road **** honey for his bride Hmmm, Hmmm.

She said, 'Please Mr. Toady won't you bury me, Hmmm?
Oh please Mr. Toady won't you bury me, Hmmm.
Please Mr. Toady won't you bury me?
Said he, 'Not now, Honey I'm in ecstasy, Hmmm, Hmmm.

*January, 2007

The Cane Toads in Australia are one of the clearest examples of the consequences of messing with Mother Nature. They were imported from the American south to eat bugs that trashed the sugar cane crops just like they did in the old U S of A. Once they got to Australia they lost all their appetite for eating sugar bugs and excelled only at breeding which they do on an Olympic level.

Robert C Howard Aug 2013

Songbird

Robin hums as she tends her garden
while birds perch all around
waiting for rustling seeds
to fill the slender columns.
Humming birds hover
to sip sweet nectar mixed for them alone.

On concert nights her voice takes flight.
and fills the hall with her radiant soul.
On quiet mornings
graphite joins with paper
and a flower's form and meaning
are captured by her vision.

A friend fallen ill or reeling from loss
receives her gift of comfort words
and a card or meal soon follows.

Grandchildren rush to greet her
and happily fill her arms.
at night they cloak themselves
In love quilts sewn by Grandma’s hands.

If you want to learn how love abides
or long to know its fullness
follow my Robin for a day
Her gift is in the gifting.

*July, 2006

Robin is my best friend and partner and oh yes, we've been married for 26 years.

#love #family #kindness #marriage #quilts

Robert C Howard Aug 2013

Out of Chaos

Shall we pause to consider
the shudder of a butterfly's wings
that sets the hurricane spinning
or the descent of the final raindrop
that breaches the groaning levy?

Shall we ponder the moment before
a chorus of "maybe's" morphs
into the vain eloquence of history?

Roiling in the broth of chaos
a cluster of causes startles the surface -
unfurling a queue of effects
that dot the timescape
like rows of teetering dominoes.

Typhoons twist villages to ruins,
armies rise to victory or
succumb to the despair of defeat,
or a medical miracle is born
from the agile mind of a doctor
conceived in a Chevy's back seat.

So here we stand on the ridge of time
ourselves both caused and causing,
cradling the sphere of chaos in our hands -
uncertain what effect will be our being
after all our causes are enumerated.

Time will surely tell - as soon
as we tell time exactly what to say.

*August, 2013

Included in Unity Tree, published by Create Space available from Amazon.com in both book and Kindle formats.

#butterfly #chaos #effect #cause #theory