Sometimes I look at art and I wonder if it is really ‘art’. If it gets a reaction then I guess it is. When I first spotted this piece in Folkestone, my random thought was, ‘not a sculpture for the accident prone to climb on, especially the skinny ones’. I took a photo then read the notes and it is Will Kwan’s sculptural screen frame view of the English Channel, reflecting, ‘the still heavily trafficked route linking Britain and China. His sculpture also plays on the architectural design of the ‘chinoiserie’ style’. Odd. I’m still not sure I’m getting it. Anyway, a work-in-progress lyric for one of the new songs I’m working on.
WHITE ROOM, DARK PLACE
White room,
Dark place,
Kiss stains on his collar,
No smile upon his face
Blindfold,
Blood stain,
A bullet to the temple,
He never felt the pain
Helicopter,
Overhead,
Just checking out the area,
To make sure that he’s dead
Mystified,
Paralysed,
He let her read his fortune,
No tourniquet applied
Ice Queen,
Never lied,
The day the truth caught up with them,
They called it suicide
Snow white,
Gravestone,
Empty coffin, no donations,
Spilt ashes and methadone
Epitaph,
Nothing to say,
The remnants of two lives’
And a dandelion bouquet.
Next, a piece of sound art using samples I wrote a while back. I think it just fits the mood of the words above. It’s called, ‘No More a Vendetta’.
If anyone is interested in having their poetry put to song then below is the link to my previous post explaining how it can be achieved;
https://zoolonhub.com/2017/08/16/when-a-poem-becomes-a-song/
Also, Here’s link to ‘DREAM RESCUER’. It costs not much, and is available worldwide. If you fancy buying it and feel able to post a review on Bandcamp, I’d appreciate it.
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This is epic ! Spectacular piece, Lord Zoolon.
Agreed! I feel like I just watched quite the movie, actually!
Yes, Venessa , yes indeed !!!
😁
What a great thing to say, thank you.
Thank you, Lady Yasmin.
Welcome, Lord Zoolon.
EPIC!!
Thanks.
Wow, what a story- and the music!!! I can’t wait to hear the finished piece!
Defining ‘Art’ is tricky. My favorite is a white canvass in the Milwaukee museum which sports a single black line down the middle. Untitled. Perhaps I’m just not clever enough to get it…:)
Thank you. I have a number of pieces at the composition/almost ready for the studio phase on the go at the moment. I’m hoping for that extra creativity breakthrough any time now.
I don’t get it either Lord George. I think of all the auld rubbish I have lying about that could be white swans nesting in the sky or whatever. Tell you what though YOUR piece is brill x
I’m trying to get all forms of ‘art’. It’s my thing at the moment. There’s the new Turner Contemporary Gallery over in Margate. I get the paintings fine, but stuff like plastic chains hanging from the ceiling and tied up with silver foil confused me. Some people went, ‘wow’ while I was thinking ‘what’. Odd.
I think you can like or not any art form, music, painting, writing whatever even if it is not just off the wall but off the planet. The trouble for me is that sometimes the loudness of certain ‘Wows,’ not only leaves room for confusion. It leads me to believe that some folks just don’t want to look like they really are confused that this is art, music, writing, whatever.
With some people I think they like to walk around and act out pretending to know something the rest of us don’t. Maybe like The Emperor’s New Clothes.
Aiiiii that tragic poem has me reeling ~ It’s not true love with that going on ~ Mind you, what is true love? Does it exist? What makes it “true”? OK you’re responsible for this brain that’s whizzing around so quickly right now (coffee has a role too)!
Thank you. I don’t drink coffee or tea (hot chocolate, served ‘basic’ is mine). I agree ‘true love’, like you’d die for someone, might not exist, might just for the lucky ones. I’m feeling a lyric coming on, thinking about it. Extra thank you! George
Woohoooooo to the fact that I may, just may, inspire a lyric 🙂
It’s clear that your mission is to inspire so you deserve of song. Already the concept is on the board next to my desk. I’ll be on the case asap.
Isn’t everything art, in a sense? The Art of… insert whatever you like. My interpretation of Kwan’s work is a smart manipulation of a view to create individual pictures of what’s captured in any of the many frames, I like it a lot. A terrific photo, here you’ve presented to us a view of a view within a view, so very clever.
‘White Room, Dark Place’, is a dark lyric and loaded with strong imagery. How wonderful each verse tells its own story, yet stacked together they unfold to reveal a larger tragedy. George, this is super and I’m looking forward to listening to the completed song. It paired nicely with ‘No More a Vendetta’. Lovely post and presentation. Have a good evening. Mia, RE&C
It’s interesting, Mia. It got a reaction from me, so it must be art. I didn’t like it, yet I didn’t not like it. The curse of the random thought kicked in and I just saw the holes in the base of the project. The drop through the holes is a sheer, deep drop and my first thought wasn’t about the art but the danger if you were little, skinny and slipped through one of the holes. Against that, if there wasn’t a sheer drop it would probably have ruined the art and couldn’t be a view within a view. Also, the trade link between China and the UK on the notes just seemed weird. I hate boasting but my photo turned out better than the real thing that’s already rusting up a bit. The thing I need to do with art that isn’t obvious is to learn to look deeper. This piece is about 100 metres from where I get my morning hot chocolate so I’ve got no excuses when it comes to taking a second, deeper look. I’m hoping that soon I will see art like I see sound and music. I’ll have the new song soon, and thanks Mia, wishing I had your extra-clever x-ray eyes, R, E & 100% cocoa C.
You’re welcome, George. Reactions and random thoughts are both good things. The sculpture does have a resemblance to a jungle gym, not one I would ever get on without a safety net. Do you think Brian has been over to visit the sculpture? It looks like a great place for birds to perch, giving it a practical purpose too.
Thanks, Mia. Brian is a Dover sparrow so doesn’t get over to Folkestone that regularly. I think he’d like it there. The Leas, below the sculpture would be a perfect home for a sparrow. Upmarket, so I’m guessing Ruby would like it there as well. I think I just worked out why I was struggling with the sculpture. Looking through the gaps in it doesn’t showcase the sea specifically. It would have more magic if it used it’s little square holes to capture the sea (no horizons, beach or anything like that, just the water). This piece should be set up lower down at an angle, not on top of The Leas.
I love to pick out my favorite sounds according to the timed spaces…this is so spectacular I was unable to single out a favorite, it is fabulous!!!!
Thank you so much. You’re a proper poet, so what you say helps keep a lyricist sane.
Thank you George , you’re a proper music man! Your lyrics are fabulous!
I don’t know what the drawing is, but its interesting. The lyrics are a bit eerie and remind me of your father’s. Just read your response to the whole poem into a song thing….I’ve been so bad about getting back to comments on WP. Anyway, yes, probably nothing I would pay for but interested because I had lyrics that I had some ideas for for a metal song but can’t quite get it to come together. Was thinking of it more as a collaboration where maybe your ideas would guide me. If you’re ever interested in doing anything like that, let me know.
The complicated words geriatric is a bit like it on the eerie front. His long words have too many syllables for songs though. A collaboration would be brilliant. Right now I’ve got work and projects up to my armpits. If your still up for it in a couple of months time, after I visit then escape Belgium than I’ll be up for it also.
You have just amazed me… I’m melted!!!
Before you completely melt maybe you should hide in the fridge for awhile? Seriously though, thanks for the kind words.
Haha anytime buddy!!
White room,dark place;as losting soul’s solace….wonderful written.dear zoolon!!
Dandelions hold the seeds of magic!
What kind of magic. You’ve got me curious.
When a dandelion goes to seed, everyone thinks its life is over, however, those wee beings are flung into the wind, carried off to parts unknown and live a whole new existence. The magic, to me, is that the dandelion lives more than one life. One yellow and the other invisibly.
I would like an invisible life. A lot!
Hey zoolon!! Have you seen famous mosque of India-TAJMAHAL ? your white room,dark place is like that marbled TAJMAHAL.i think and feel when i read ur poem again n again.lovely poem.
I sometimes eat in a local restaurant called The Raj Mahal. Raj used to be my next door neighbour. It’s his place.
Good.is raj as his name,is indian.plz reply.
Raj is from Bangladesh and a great bloke.
Is he related from ur post-white room ,dark place?i think-it is not.
Like I said, Aruna. He’s just one of those people you like on first meeting. Good bloke, pre or post white room. There aren’t many ‘good blokes’ around at the moment.
Yeah.wonderful bkoke n lovely too.
I love the lyrics, and the music sets the mood very nicely!
Oooooo, I do love that last line. Well I mean there’s lots of nice bits, but the “dandelion bouquet” is damn smart. So temporary, fleeting, looked down upon as a nuisance, unwanted, and yet held as the most beautiful thing in the hands of a child.
I hope I’m getting back the lyrical creative gift I had when writing the Liquid Truth album (re Plato’s Allegory). I think it’s surfacing again.
I think so, too. 🙂
Brilliant piece of music! So is the poem. Interesting picture of God knows what 😉
The Emporer’s birthday suit!
You can not see?
But would you not die for me?
and the track, I sang to it
both works of art!!
Save our souls,
Save our souls,
Save our souls,
dit dit did dash dash dash dit dit dit
dit dit did dash dash dash dit dit dit
Save our souls,
Save our souls,
Save our souls,
Save our souls,
Save our souls,
Save our souls,
dit dit did dash dash dash dit dit dit
dit dit did dash dash dash dit dit dit
Save our lives
Before we fall
Before we fall
dit dit did dash dash dash dit dit dit
dit dit did dash dash dash dit dit dit
Save our souls,
Before we fall
Before we fall
Not a brilliant lyric, LOL but it woked for me 😉
You’ve proven what I’ve always said, that lyrics are easier to write than poetry. Repetition is often the key to a lyric, so long as the music builds along the way.
Back when I was still hanging out with writers most of the time we would get into arguments about what was literature and what was just hack work. Being naturally opinionated, I jumped into the fray. But over the years, I realized the subjectivity of the question. The only way to prove if something was hackwork or art was to ask the author if they wrote it for love or money.
Thanks, Paul. I reckon that’s pretty sound advice.
https://lyricalviews.wordpress.com please check new versions of poetry
White room, dark place — interesting lyrics. I like the last stanza about epitaph with nothing to write. Really, does the dead care?
The dead are just dead. I admit, it would be cool if they could have a chat with each other!
Oh they do! When people die we are met by friends or relatives who passed away ahead of us. Seriously. I read that from near-death experiences of which some were scientifically documented
That’s interesting Marisselee. What would happen to people who died at birth?
The documented NDErs were mostly grown-ups so who knows what happens to infants. Maybe, the soul meant for it quit at the last minute and say: “Oh please not another rebirth!” Lol. It is not funny though for parents who expected for the babe to be borne only to die when the big day comes. Maybe such experience is for the parents to learn a lesson from. I dunno because in life there are more questions than answers 😉