Remembering Roberta Flack

There are some singers whom you will never forget. Roberta Flack is one of them. Her lush voice washes over you like a liquid massage, soothing all your anxieties, and smoothing all the rough corners away. She simply is fabulous!

Two of her hits are my favorites: Killing Me Softly with His Song and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

From RobertaFlack.com:

“Internationally hailed as one of the greatest songstresses of our time, GRAMMY Award winning Roberta Flack remains unparalleled in her ability to tell a story through her music. Her songs bring insight into our lives, loves, culture and politics, while effortlessly traversing a broad musical landscape from pop to soul to folk to jazz. She is the only solo artist to win the GRAMMY Award Record of the Year for two (2) consecutive years: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face won the 1973 GRAMMY and Killing Me Softly with His Song won the 1974 GRAMMY.

Classically trained on the piano from an early age, Ms. Flack received a music scholarship at age 15 to attend Howard University. Discovered while singing at the Washington, DC nightclub Mr. Henry’s by jazz musician Les McCann, she was immediately signed to Atlantic Records. With a string of hits, including, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Where Is the Love (a duet with former Howard University classmate Donny Hathaway), Killing Me Softly With His Song, Feel Like Makin’ Love, The Closer I Get to You, Tonight I Celebrate My Love, and Set the Night to Music, Roberta Flack has inspired countless artists with her musical brilliance and honesty.

Described by Reverend Jesse Jackson as “socially relevant and politically unafraid”, Ms. Flack is very active as a humanitarian and mentor. She founded the Roberta Flack School of Music at the Hyde Leadership Charter School in the Bronx, providing an innovative and inspiring music education program to underprivileged students free of charge.

In 2010, Ms. Flack founded The Roberta Flack Foundation whose mission statement is to support animal welfare and music education. In 2019, she awarded grants to Anasa Troutman’s Shelectricity and filmmaker Carol Swainson.

In 2018, Ms. Flack retired from touring and continues to make special appearances.

In 2020, Ms. Flack received a GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition, she raised awareness and funds for Feed The Children.org during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Dawn Pisturino

March 6, 2023

Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.

Poetry Book Review: Archery in the UK

Archery in the UK by Nick Reeves and Ingrid Wilson (2023). Available on Amazon.com.

While reading this beautiful and deeply-moving collection of poems, certain associations kept popping into my head. Sonnets from the Portuguese. Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Robert Browning. This book is quintessentially a collection of verses devoted to Love – the remarkable uniting of two cherished souls, love of the land, love of nature, love of beauty, and love of the language that allows us to shape our thoughts, feelings, and dreams into words.

Most of the poems in this collection are not sonnets, but the quality, tone, rhythm, and spirit of these verses capture the essence of Shakespeare, the two Brownings, and classic British lyrical poetry in general. Love in this poetic realm spreads its wings wider and flies higher than mortals are allowed in the ordinary world. The poets invite us into their secret bower of shared passion and romance, reminding us that love is a beautiful gift, and so is every precious moment of our lives.

This is an excerpt from Honeymoon Night, whose simplicity, sincerity, and repetition captured my heart and helped me to visualize the scene so clearly:

“. . . Our bodies entangled

our minds even more so

complete, I love you oh

so sweet, I love you so.

The candlelight flickers and flares

trickles tallow

temptation’s so sweet – oh

I do so love you so.

As husband and wife

we awake on the morrow

‘I do’ and ‘I will’ so

I’ll always love you so.

Our honeymoon song’s

taken up by the sparrow:

I do so love you so

I do so love you so.

~

Archery in the UK was published by Experiments in Fiction (Ingrid Wilson).

Nick Reeves’s website: Nick Reeves’s Blog

Dawn Pisturino

March 1, 2023

Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.

“On Cupid’s Broken Wings” on Spillwords

I am pleased and humbled to announce that my poem, On Cupid’s Broken Wings, has been published today on Spillwords Press. I want to thank Dagmara K. and her staff for publishing it. If you like my poem, please remember to like it on Spillwords, too. Thanks!

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

On Cupid’s Broken Wings

by Dawn Pisturino

On Cupid’s broken wings,

He landed at my door,

An instrument with broken strings,

No music at his core.

His arm wrapped up in dirty slings,

His leg — an oozing sore,

I welcomed him, and my heart sings

With love, and so much more!

With honeyed lips, I kissed him . . .

Please visit Spillwords to read the rest of the poem. Thank you!

[Note: I haven’t been posting much lately because I’ve been working on the final project for my university class. The class is almost over!]

Dawn Pisturino

February 14, 2023

Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.

“Baudelaire” on Masticadores India

I am proud to announce that my poem, Baudelaire, has been published today on Masticadores India. I want to thank Terveen Gill and her wonderful staff for publishing it. Please visit them and show them your support. Thank you!

Baudelaire

by Dawn Pisturino

when i saw you there

lying on the cold stone slab

your virgin beauty pure as white marble

i remembered why i loved you

and all the promises we made

you no longer see me

except in dreams far away

you no longer hear me

except when celestial angels

open your ear with a golden horn

but i can touch you . . .

Please go HERE to read the rest of the poem.

Thank you!

Dawn Pisturino

January 3, 2023

Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.

A Tudor Christmas/Pearl Harbor Day

(Photo by Al Elmes on Unsplash)

Green Groweth the Holly

by King Henry the VIII of England

Green groweth the holly, so doth the ivy. Though winter blasts blow never so high, Green groweth the holly. As the holly groweth green     And never changeth hue, So I am, and ever hath been,     Unto my lady true.             Green groweth the holly, so doth the ivy.             Though winter blasts blow never so high,             Green groweth the holly. As the holly groweth green,     With ivy all alone, When flowerys cannot be seen     And green-wood leaves be gone,               Green groweth the holly, so doth the ivy.               Though winter blasts blow never so high,                Green groweth the holly.                   Now unto my lady     Promise to her I make: From all other only     To her I me betake.                 Green groweth the holly, so doth the ivy.                Though winter blasts blow never so high,                   Green groweth the holly.  Adieu, mine own lady,     Adieu, my specïal, Who hath my heart truly,     Be sure, and ever shall. Green groweth the holly, so doth the ivy. Though winter blasts blow never so high, Green groweth the holly.

Greensleeves –

Attributed to King Henry VIII but actually published in 1580 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

In 1865, Englishman William Chatterton Dix “borrowed” the musical composition, changed the lyrics, and turned it into the Christmas carol, What Child is This? While Greensleeves remains a popular folk song in England, the Christmas carol is uniquely popular in the United States.

~

December 7, 2022 is Pearl Harbor Day. Remember Pearl Harbor!

Dawn Pisturino

December 7, 2022

Copyright 2022 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.

Poetry Book Review: Gabriela Marie Milton

(Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash)

Woman: Splendor and Sorrow by Gabriela Marie Milton (2021). Available on Amazon.com.

I met Gabriela a year ago, when she was editor for MasticadoresUSA. Impressed by the quality of the poems and prose I read there, I began to submit poems – both old and new – for her consideration. Well, she published them! And I have been following her ever since. It was her kindness and encouragement which prompted me to start writing poetry again after a long hiatus. She inspires me to reach farther and try harder than ever before.

A Pushcart nominee. A #1 Best-Selling Author on Amazon. The 2019 Author of the Year at Spillwords Press. Gabriela has published two books of high caliber poetry, co-authored anthologies, and edited the recent Amazon Best-Seller, Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women, which she published with Ingrid Wilson of Experiments in Fiction. She resides in a higher realm of imagination, pulling ideas and images out of the clouds that Wow! the reader and transport him/her to another world. She employs language that is lush, exotic, sensual, and stimulating to all five senses. She is her poetry. Her poetry is her. She pushes the boundaries of creativity and encourages others to do the same. She is poet, teacher, mother, friend, divine goddess of the poetic art form. Many of her themes revolve around the strength, resilience, and beauty of women. She adores children, the magic of childhood, and the blessings of motherhood. And then, there’s Love! — and the perpetual tango between two lovers.

Woman: Splendor and Sorrow is a testament to the hypnotic power of love and its ability to elevate us to the heights of ecstasy or fling us into the burning depths of Hell. Every word is exquisitely crafted:

“each word I write cries on the tunes of spring,

a spring that ends in graveyards and in dreams

the night I abandoned you on that bench and left

snows in my mind the syllable of hell

I wanted to return

I wanted to love you . . .”

Poetry and love are the divine twins that rule Gabriela’s heart:

“Poetry?

Oh, poetry was too good to be read.

We tasted it and ate it with silver spoons.”

Gabriela runs her own publishing house now, Literary Revelations Publishing, which seeks to publish high-quality poetry and fiction that grab the reader unawares and trample down the boundaries of creativity.

Websites: Short Prose

Literary Revelations Publishing

~

Dawn Pisturino

November 20, 2022

Copyright 2022 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.

Cat and Ghost Game

It was strange

The way the candle light

Seemed to bounce across the ceiling,

In leaps and bounds,

Like a playful poltergeist

Putting on a show.

In the background,

Where we sat,

The eerie black shadows

Seemed to lie in wait,

Like a big black cat,

Ready to pounce

At any moment

On the poor elusive spirit.

We waited anxiously on the sofa,

A silent audience,

And watched the cat and ghost

Game before us.

The cat lay still before the dancing ghost,

Licked its lips as it watched its prey

Dance closer and closer to Death,

Raised its haunches, flicked its tail,

And with one subtle gust of breath,

Pounced suddenly and completely

Atop the overconfident ghost,

Extinguishing it forever.

We smiled, then closed our lips, drew close,

And pressed them hard together

Beneath the warm black darkness

Which covered us, like a blanket.

Alone at last, we sniffed

The lingering odor of scented wax

And began a new game, called love.

1980

Dawn Pisturino

October 12, 2022

Copyright 1980-2022 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.

September Song/September Morn

(Photo by Sandy Millar on Unsplash)

My autumn decorations are up, and I’m already planning menus for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. My husband was recently diagnosed with borderline diabetes, so cooking will be a little more challenging this year. But we can enjoy the changing season and all that nature brings us. One of my favorite jazz standards that I always think of at this time of year is “September Song.” Originally introduced on Broadway in the 1938 musical, Knickerbocker Holiday, it has been performed by Frank Sinatra and other acclaimed crooners. Chances are good that you’ve heard it.

(Frank Sinatra – September Song)

September Song

When I was a young man courting the girls
I played me a waiting game
If a maid refused me with tossing curls
I’d let the old Earth take a couple of whirls
While I plied her with tears in lieu of pearls
And as time came around she came my way
As time came around, she came

When you meet with the young girls early in the spring
You court them in song and rhyme
They answer with words and a clover ring
But if you could examine the goods they bring
They have little to offer but the songs they sing
And a plentiful waste of time of day
A plentiful waste of time

Oh, it’s a long, long while from May to December
But the days grow short
When you reach September
When the Autumn weather turns the leaves to flame
One hasn’t got time for the waiting game

Oh, the days dwindle down to a precious few
September, November
And these few precious days
I’ll spend with you
These precious days
I’ll spend with you

Songwriters: Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson. For non-commercial use only.

And then, there’s the beautiful “September Morn” performed by the fabulous Neil Diamond:

(For the lyrics, click here: https://genius.com/Neil-diamond-september-morn-lyrics)

This year, the autumn equinox will occur on Thursday, September 22, 2022. I’ve already treated myself to a generous cup of hot chocolate, which sounds crazy in the heat, but the temperature was actually pretty cool this morning.

And right now, we’re enjoying the last of the harvest moon in-between cloud covers.

(Photographer unknown)

Happy September! Autumn will be here soon!

Dawn Pisturino

September 14, 2022

Copyright 2022 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.

Old Dreams – A Poem

(Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash)

Old Dreams

So many years! —

And still your memory

Lives in my heart

As a vibrant heartbeat,

Beating new life into

Old dreams . . .

~Dawn Pisturino~

August 19, 2022

Copyright 2022 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.

Sweet Revenge

(Photo by Jennifer Marquez on Unsplash)

Sweet Revenge

If love is pain,

I nailed you to the cross

With revenge so sweet,

It blossomed into a crown of thorns.

~ Dawn Pisturino ~

August 15, 2022

Copyright 2022 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.