{"id":764,"date":"2006-11-03T16:06:08","date_gmt":"2006-11-03T22:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/wordpress\/writing\/1991\/a-guide-to\/"},"modified":"2006-11-03T16:28:12","modified_gmt":"2006-11-03T22:28:12","slug":"a-guide-to","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/?page_id=764","title":{"rendered":"A Guide to &#8220;Impressions&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb_share_1\" style=\"clear:left; float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-top:10px;;width: 55px;\" name=\"fb_share\"><div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#appId=125029517579627&amp;xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/?page_id=764\" send=\"false\" layout=\"box_count\" width=\"55\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>(a cheat sheet to those who wish insight on these scribblings)<\/p>\n<p>Poetry is different for every person who does or does not read it.<br \/>\nBy reading,they become a participant in a new piece of thought.  A<br \/>\nperson brings their experience,emotions and opinions into their<br \/>\ninterpretation of what they read. Someone can read something<br \/>\ntwice in two different states of mind and it can have two completely<br \/>\ndifferent meanings. In this way,a piece of writing is a collaboration<br \/>\nbetween the writer and the reader;each time it is read,it is another<br \/>\npiece of poetry.<\/p>\n<p>Here is a group of writings that I humbly submit as poetry. They<br \/>\nwere written during the time I was working and traveling with the<br \/>\nPaul Simon &#8220;Born At The Right Time&#8221; tour between August 1,1990<br \/>\nand January 27,1992(with a few exceptions). This was a great<br \/>\nperiod of growth for me personally and I hope the writing reflects<br \/>\nthat. The group performed  156 shows in 31 countries(not counting<br \/>\nbenefits and counting the UK as 4 separate countries[let&#8217;s not<br \/>\nargue!])  Many of these places I had never before been to;some I<br \/>\nreturned to with an improved perspective that permitted me to see<br \/>\nthem as if for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>The way each reader approaches a poem is unique;some are<br \/>\nexplorers with no knowledge of where they go,preferring to be<br \/>\nsurprised for better or worse,along the way. Some want total<br \/>\nknowledge of the surroundings,maps,analysis,timetables and<br \/>\nhistory to better understand what they will read and experience. I<br \/>\nthink most people like a title,a clue to where they are going so that<br \/>\nthey themselves can solve whatever riddle they have inside that<br \/>\npoetry shines light upon. For even though every writer&#8217;s thoughts<br \/>\nare very personal(mine included)they can touch upon those parts of<br \/>\nus that we know(or did not know)lies within each and every one of<br \/>\nus.<\/p>\n<p>For you explorers and sleuths,this section is not for you. I have<br \/>\ndecided to include short explanations and clarifications for those of<br \/>\nyou who want direct insight into what I thought I wrote down. My<br \/>\nwork is very train of thought;even the best railroads experience<br \/>\nderailments. They often start with an image or mood and end up<br \/>\nsomewhere else all together. I very rarely edit my work;it&#8217;s first draft<br \/>\nquality attests to that. I have left in all of my efforts from this time<br \/>\neven though initially I wanted to remove the weaker poems;but I<br \/>\nlook at this as a journal of sorts. I feel that you should not delete<br \/>\ndays just because they were not up to a momentary standard.<br \/>\nPerhaps one of you readers will find strength where I can not. You<br \/>\nmay come across a stiff or two as well. Hell,I&#8217;m the first to admit I&#8217;m<br \/>\nno Bill Shakespeare!!!<\/p>\n<p>With that,here is a tourist map with a few X&#8217;s and O&#8217;s:<\/p>\n<p><strong> Ghosts:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A break in rehearsals and a trip to New England. The ghosts I<br \/>\nfelt watching were from my past,the area&#8217;s past and someone<br \/>\nelse&#8217;s past. I took an ex-girlfriend to her father&#8217;s burial in New<br \/>\nHampshire,a man I never knew. He committed suicide and I had<br \/>\nto put my agenda aside and be a friend. Good lesson and one of<br \/>\nmy favorite pieces.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hampton Rain:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Storms(as you will see)bring out all kinds of feelings in me;this one<br \/>\nwas on an afternoon alone in the house in Westhampton.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Waiting For The Storm:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A few days before we started the tour in Tacoma,a storm moved<br \/>\ninto the area while I was visiting a friend. She went off to work and I<br \/>\nstayed at home and played with the dog.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Laundry:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Break in the tour,laundry time!  My local laundromat had become<br \/>\na crack scoring zone;I had to try to remember myself at my low<br \/>\npoint to keep some empathy for the walking dead.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Road Closed:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Written during a visit to my old stomping grounds on a tour break. I<br \/>\nwas driving an old dirt road in the spring(&#8220;mud road) and it became<br \/>\nundrivable. I should have known.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Manchester Ride:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The bus ride to Manchester reminded me of the many walks I<br \/>\nused to take on Cranberry Island,Maine. The wheel ruts and  the<br \/>\ngrassy median I saw out the bus window triggered me to write<br \/>\nimmediately.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Upstream Downstream:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sometimes when I isolate,looking out the hotel window brings<br \/>\nme back. The famous river and it&#8217;s traffic changed  my mood by<br \/>\nthe time I was done.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Czech Insect:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A great day walking through a great city centers me. I would not<br \/>\nharm the insect or his work that day in a land whose creative<br \/>\nstrength helped topple oppressive leaders.<\/p>\n<p><strong> What Are My Choices?:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;romance&#8221; of the road.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Relief,Shame,Pain:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Introspection in the land of my birth.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Initiation:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>My first experience bungee jumping;wow. The last part<br \/>\ndescribes the sky on the way home which was other worldly<br \/>\ndue to the dust in the air from the Philippine volcano,Mt. Pinatubo.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Growth:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sometimes not getting what you want shows that you want more<br \/>\nthan you think. Relationships involve two people with two sets of<br \/>\nneeds that may not coincide.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Can&#8217;t Shake It:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A friend and I drove by a fatal accident on Sunset Blvd. one<br \/>\nday and the image wouldn&#8217;t leave. The form was influenced<br \/>\n(stolen) by reading the great South American poet Cesar<br \/>\nVallejo.<\/p>\n<p><strong> A.M. Eyecheck:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I woke up early on the tour bus at the Capitol Music Center,a<br \/>\nconverted horseracing track,now concert venue. Nature seemed off<br \/>\nkilter through sleepy eyes: A.M. perspective check.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Fear:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I was angry because people asked me about  bungee jumping and<br \/>\ninsisted that I was scared(see LA 7\/29).  I set off through a fog of<br \/>\nself pity and &#8220;poor me&#8221; to share what I was really afraid of.<br \/>\n<strong><br \/>\nUnfold:<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nIsolation,anger and finally,perspective. I grow the most when I<br \/>\nshelve the self and remember others.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Cold,Deep Water:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Two places,two moods,one poem. The first verses were written in<br \/>\nL.A. in a critical reflective mood. I completed the poem in Japan<br \/>\nwhen the deadly serious start seemed almost comical. It is the first<br \/>\ntime I&#8217;ve seen a poem do a geographic.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Imajica:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Inspired by the completion of Clive Barker&#8217;s&#8221;Imajica&#8221;,a book<br \/>\ncharged with good old fashioned myth and ties to the social illness<br \/>\nthat our world is infected with.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Room:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I go to China and stay in my room. Some world traveler! I still<br \/>\nabsorbed plenty and vented my ongoing shame of my heritage as<br \/>\nan &#8220;American Barbarian&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Home,Dream,Time,Release:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After Asia,Australia was like home&#8230;in a funhouse mirror. Half a<br \/>\nworld away and homesick,being a day ahead of home and having<br \/>\nthings break in your suitcase will send you deep into reflection.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Man:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We are all human.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Blue Clouds:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Could we actually believe that we could be responsible for the<br \/>\nweather?<\/p>\n<p><strong> Quantum:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The end of my self-imposed exile from the tour. It coincides with my<br \/>\nreading of &#8220;Quantum Healing&#8221;. It&#8217;s info on microscopic doings<br \/>\nresulted in universal size thoughts and feelings.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Yet More:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A wonderfully powerful thunderstorm keeps me up.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Rhythm:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Written on the &#8220;Golden Hawke&#8221;,a 112 year old sailing ship,between<br \/>\nBali and Lombok. Sometimes intellect prevents man from<br \/>\nexperiencing nature initially;nature is persistent and always wins.<\/p>\n<p><strong>One Day:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the groove even at an American resort in paradise.<\/p>\n<p><strong> One More Week!!!:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Our break in Bali was a life shaping time. The Hindu culture<br \/>\npervades even the gift shop. The Ying and Yang(I know,not<br \/>\nHindu)of the island centered me in a way unknown to me before.<br \/>\nThe sun and the books I read didn&#8217;t hurt. Rollo May&#8217;s &#8220;Cry For<br \/>\nMyth&#8221; exposed me to Faust and Peer Gynt for the first time,myths I<br \/>\nhad been lacking.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Thanks:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Images of Brazil and Thanksgiving meet in my only direct attempt<br \/>\nto use a rhyming form in a long time(with mixed results).<\/p>\n<p><strong> Envy Of A Hand Of Stone:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At the beach a large set of concrete fingers protrude from a<br \/>\ndune,it&#8217;s nails facing the Atlantic. A great image and one that<br \/>\ntriggered jealousy on my behalf in that it&#8217;s inhuman nature prevents<br \/>\nit from grasping everything that passes through it.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Why:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The thought of someone trying to stop our shows in South Africa for<br \/>\npolitical reasons filled me with confusion,disbelief and fear. I thank<br \/>\nGod that only once the sound of grenades overshadowed Paul and<br \/>\nhis remarkable band.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fire:<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nChristmas with my partial family was trying. I use tending the<br \/>\nwoodstove as a metaphor,a device that I spent many hours focused<br \/>\non when I was younger. If I couldn&#8217;t burn with rage,something else<br \/>\nwould.<\/p>\n<p><strong> My Life,The Sky,The Sea:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Leaving JoBurg was a relief for everyone. As I sat watching the sun<br \/>\nset over the Indian Ocean in the flight path of the airport,the<br \/>\nswimmers and Martia&#8217;s hands were more real than the security<br \/>\nguards out my window waiting for the band to arrive.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Adrift:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Late night isolation&#8230;I thought a boat was blowing it&#8217;s horn and an<br \/>\nimage came to mind. Then I realized it was just the plumbing.<br \/>\nSometimes I think reality is only a  personal and temporary state.<\/p>\n<p><strong> Game:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>My mother gave me a book for Christmas called &#8220;Friday Night<br \/>\nLights&#8221;,a story of a year in a football program in an Odessa,Texas<br \/>\nhigh school. They have a stadium with a 20,000 seat capacity! It<br \/>\nrekindled my own sore memories of my time in high school<br \/>\nfootball(thanks Mom). Even winners can feel what I&#8217;ve felt.<br \/>\n<strong><br \/>\nCapetown Sunset:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the most beautiful city I&#8217;ve ever seen. For an American to<br \/>\nwatch the sun set on the Atlantic is&#8230;well,unusual. The images were<br \/>\nso strong I literally ran from the seaside walkway of Seapoint back<br \/>\nto my hotel room to write down these words. The whole middle<br \/>\nsection  was written before I saw the paper(unusual for me). As I<br \/>\nwrote,the sky took a turn into darkness that I never had the<br \/>\npatience to see before. I realized that I do not have a choice in that<br \/>\nI write,how I write today and the outcome of my writing. In the long<br \/>\nrun,it does not matter;it is what it is. I love it that way.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Community Mobile:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A really weakly-written overview of the whole tour that may or may<br \/>\nnot trigger some memories of our travels. I attempted to use at<br \/>\nleast one image or memory from each country we went to; the form<br \/>\nslopped around a bit. The first and last paragraphs are quite<br \/>\nheartfelt&#8230;what I gained on this trip in experience and friendship will<br \/>\nnot likely be rivaled.<\/p>\n<p>I hope that these bits of background enhance your reading;there is<br \/>\na history of travel and documentation in my family. Perhaps I will do my<br \/>\nrelatives honor in this slightly different format. Thank you for being a<br \/>\nparticipant in this&#8230;we couldn&#8217;t have done it without you!<\/p>\n<p>Love and God Bless,<\/p>\n<p>Aron<\/p>\n<p><strong>Postscript:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I must thank a few people for their part in this project,whether or<br \/>\nnot  they know of it&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Jim Corona,for listening to me rant most of these at him at all hours<br \/>\nof the night and not making faces when the lack of clarity rose over<br \/>\n70%;<\/p>\n<p>Marc Silag and Paul Simon for introducing me to Derek Walcott (in<br \/>\nprint);<\/p>\n<p>Cheryll Stone for computer time and encouragement;<\/p>\n<p>all my wonderful friends on the tour who I shared one of the<br \/>\ngreatest adventures of my life with;<\/p>\n<p>Abe Laboriel,who once suggested to write a journal to help cope<br \/>\nwith the rigors of life on the road;<\/p>\n<p>Octavio Paz,whose book,&#8221;The Bow And The Lyre&#8221; was liberally<br \/>\nparaphrased in the first and third paragraphs of this guide. His<br \/>\ninsight to writing is a constant  influence on me;<\/p>\n<p>Wassily Kandinsky,whose painting, theory and words of a spiritual<br \/>\napproach to all arts &#8220;brings it all together&#8221; for me;<\/p>\n<p>my parents Susan and Val for being artists,musicians and<br \/>\nloving,supporting human beings;<\/p>\n<p>all the other teachers,poets,writers and others who shared the<br \/>\nfreedom of art and creative writing;<\/p>\n<p>those who excelled at it;<\/p>\n<p>the many people I encountered  out there ;<\/p>\n<p>and the Higher Power that grants all life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(a cheat sheet to those who wish insight on these scribblings) Poetry is different for every person who does or does not read it. By reading,they become a participant in a new piece of thought. A person brings their experience,emotions and opinions into their interpretation of what they read. Someone can read something twice in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":724,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"spay_email":""},"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PeNcU-ck","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/764"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/764\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}