the song does remain the same

the song does remain the same

 

 

 

i am a black guitar

with ebon strings

and displaced octave

strange sounds in an urban city

lyrics sung through stitched vocal chords

 

they are burning the wood

ash incorporated,

streets of fire

strike up the band,

the audience can't clap for an encore

they don't know how to react

 

they weren't really listening to the words.

or maybe they were.

 

 

 

 

erin-cilberto

8/17/19

Reviews

[Ted Kniffen]

A black guitar...Orbison or the Everly's...that music seems to run through the heart even now. Takes us back to the halcyon days of our mad youth when anything was possible...and the streets were aflame with anger and riots.
So much good music that either fanned the fires of rebellion or was the soundtrack of the times. Not sure what view of history today's music is promoting but it is not something I recognize.
And what has really changed?
Greed has kicked empathy in the a*s...good manners have gone by the wayside...hatred is promoted by both sides like it is a constitutional right...so I guess not much has changed.

A good one, j. thanks for the trip. Peace out.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your insightful and kind words Ted...
glad you were willing to take the trip.read morethank you for your insightful and kind words Ted...
glad you were willing to take the trip.
j.

[John Alexander McFadyen]

The black guitar stikes an image of someone deeply and fundamentally unhappy, The black strings and the misplaced octave the struggle and the strange sounds as if one no longer feels one belongs but (lyrics sung through stitched vocal chords) cannot do anything to change it. Burning the wood and the ash could be a feeling that civilization has deteriorated or a comment on ecology and the audience sees the world go by but does nothing to change things and bury their heads in the sands of living every day life. They ignore the words to assuage their guilt! As always a very stimulating allegorical poem Jacob.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i really like where you went with this one, John...thank you for your insights.
j.

[redzone]

funny how people often divide a poem between the lyrics and the melody... like the beat moves your feet but the words never get through.... it reminds me of when I roamed the mean streets of Philly (an area called the "Badlands") and the music poured from speakers placed in windows or from the cars that drove by so anyone could listen... while out on the street people sometimes sang the words as they walked by.... in talking with mostly the youth, I found that many of them not only knew the words, but saw their lives coming out of this music.... they were "living" literally in them and the beat.... it was both a positive as well as negative scene as a lot of the music was gangsta music, with some more conscious hip-hop competing side by side....

anyway, sorry for the windiness, but as I read, this was the memory and image that floated I front of my eyes... one other image also arose, that of how black folks are still "displaced" in this country....

like this poem Jacob and where it took me...

[jacob erin-cilberto]

gosh, don't be sorry....i love it when readers are moved by a poem to share their own experiences...i liked your story...reminded me of high school days in Lockport...the greasers vs. socies...
and the music to fit the mood of life.
thank you, Curt.
j.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

ps...all the old rock tunes from the top 40...reflections of my life...
j.

[MCS]

times have changed, morals have changed, faces are forever changing but you're right the song remains the same. so many layers to this piece, well done!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i really appreciate your positive review, MCS...i was completely unsure of this one...i am encouraged.
thank you.
j.