snapsnapsnapsnapsnap (poetry joke) well written and read.

You are an inspirational poet my man and a great guitar player

Such a word picture you paint for us. I had to move closer to the fire for the second listen. Beautiful piece of art, Peter. 

Very enjoyable intriguing guitar. Beautiful poetry painted by your voice. Very good work! ;)

powerful use of language! So crisp and descriptive!

David sent me a song he started with his good friend Pat Howell, and asked if I could put my thoughts on it. And it was with some trepidation, knowing that Pat had recently passed away. But a weave of friendship grew as we worked on the song. And today I am very honored that I had the opportunity to share these gentlemen's musical journey, in this song.
Thank you very much dear David for inviting me. ;)

You can find more of David's lovely guitar music here: https://soundcloud.com/david-dunhamuser589535203

Weave Of Friendship

I wrote this song in 1989 use to play it with a band called Jaroc, back in the day Here is an updated version, hope you like it.

Written played produced by : John Mc Farlane

Everybody's Fool

The Trial
A Pico-Operetta for our Times

International Cast

Lady Humanity - Oddrun Eikli - Norway, vocals and lyric on the last song; https://soundcloud.com/oddrun-eikli
Lord Mammon - Peter - England, All poetic lyrics in the operetta, except the last song; https://soundcloud.com/user-264930040/tracks
The Judge - David Dunham - USA, and acoustic guitar in the third song; https://soundcloud.com/david-dunhamuser589535203
Music & Production - Seagull - Sweden, compilation, mixing, sound effects etc; https://soundcloud.com/farout-music-studio

Here you can download all poetic lyrics: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/37k203an5c6azz0ekltvn/The-Trial-Libretto.pdf?rlkey=mope1vjiyqhaeo17b5u74dp2i&dl=0

Synopsis

Following unprecedented worldwide growth in human conflict, an emergency plenary session of the United Nations was convened late in 2023, tasked with finding new approaches to defuse global tension and ease conciliation.  Recognising the abject failure of extant UN jurisdictions and powers, and in a radical restructuring of the international legal and security framework, that session established a new UN institution to sit alongside the International Court of Criminal Justice.  The International Court of Moral Justice was formally incorporated into the UN Constitution on 1 January 2024.

The foundations of this infant organisation and those of the UN itself were shaken when it was revealed that the inaugural case to be heard by the ICMJ was to be a private prosecution brought by greed itself against the defendant, mankind’s innate sense of humanity.

In papers lodged with the court, the protagonist, Lord Mammon has asserted that the fundamental basis for human misery, the creation of discontent, thence envy and hence conflict, is to be found exclusively in false moral goodness and self-righteousness borne of a misplaced sense of benevolence.  The human race survived and thrived, he states, not by moving at the pace of the slowest, or sharing resources with the weakest, but by taking and keeping, for the self alone, much more than is needed for basic subsistence, this being the singular route to strength, individual contentment and thus tolerance of others. 
 
In reply, a broken and demoralised Lady Humanity has been compelled to present her own defence after failing to secure funding for a legal team to counter the advocates ranged in front of Lord Mammon. The case for the defence rests solely on the premise that good comes from within and cannot be created from nothing.  So whilst she may try to bolster the moral cause in her work, she increasingly finds that the human souls she sees have no humanity in them whatsoever for her to strengthen, nothing to work with and as such, concedes that she has failed, but denounces the notion that it was for want of trying.  Devoid of resources, supporters and allies of any kind she single handedly has held the fort against the self-perpetuating, self-reinforcing massed ranks of Mammon.
  
The Lord Chief Justice of the ICMJ along with his bench of associate judiciary adjourn proceedings to consider their findings and in the final act, return to deliver their verdict.

The Trial - A Pico Operetta for our times

brainwash

Hey…. So I put down the slide guitar the other day, and picked up the mandolin after a slide solo wasn’t working. Then did this little song. A rather surreal look at the metaphysics of stars as they relate to us. Occasionally, we are at a loss to make sense of this life. I find perspective in observing the night sky, among other things, even if for only a brief moment. Hanging out with others helps too. So does playing music. I usually laugh at myself in those moments and realize just how fascinating life can be. I mentioned this story before, but in a different context. I have been ‘caretaking’ a fire ant colony for over twenty years. The common sense of today’s world would seek to destroy the colony, as labeling them as ‘nuisance pests’ comes with a dire consequence for the ants. Fire ants bite only to get a grip and then sting (from the abdomen) and inject a toxic alkaloid venom called solenopsin. Anyway, the colony had been in my neighbor’s yard decades ago, and I did my best to encourage him not to destroy the colony. But after seeing a friend of his riding over the colony with a riding lawn mower, I knew the colony was doomed if it stayed there. Then one day, while emptying the kitchen compost bucket into the compost pile, I saw a long trail of fire ants coming from my neighbor’s yard into mine. They had begun to build a mound near a brush pile in the back. So the ants have been here for 5 years or so. Sure, they may strip an aspen sapling bare, or try and sneak into my vegetable garden, but for the most part, they have been good neighbors. They have come out of their mound now that it is a little warmer. I was cleaning up the gardens in the back, and noticed hundreds of them working on their mound. I looked yesterday and I saw this one ant carrying a large twig, way bigger than him, on top of the mound. As he walked, the twig was waving back and forth like a sword raised in the air. I laughed (to myself) and realized it had been a while since I had done so. This song is about all those little things in life, like that, that bring us back…. Hope you like it. Thanks for dropping by, Mark

Lammbone's Album

Walk In The Park

We may not have traveled far and wide,  but Keith has a way of transporting us all over the world through his curious mind and love of history. So, why are we in Italy? Simply put, Keith loves Vespas ;)  Actually, he loves the idea of the band touring Italy on Vespas, funky hipster wheels and recording tunes as we go.  The "Sock Puppets" was a theme Keith developed as he created some videos depicting travels with the WAG puppets.
Vesari Corridor is one adventure from the Album Keith wanted to develop, found here: https://www.terrywigmore.com/wigmore-allen-gibbons
Join Keith, Kevin, and I as we travel around Italy, taking in some famous landmarks and enjoying a lot of Kevin's favourite red wines.

Lyrics:
Vasari Corridor

Da,da,da,da,dah…… Da,da,da,da,dah……(nonchalantly strolling along, minding own business:)
Down the corridor …of Vasari.

I found a secret place…somewhere safe for us to go
No prying eyes in this narrow space…a hidden alley that I know
Down the corridor…of Vasari

Da, da, dah, da, da, dah …he’s waiting.  
Da, da, dah, da, da, dah …he’s waiting

We are not allowed in here… (Do-do-do-do) If we’re careful, we’ll be fine
Avoid the blade, avoid the fear… (Do- do-do-do) and we will live till next time
Down the corridor…of Vasari

If there was a way to avoid this…hiding and subterfuge
(Down the corridor…of Vasari)
I found a secret place, somewhere safe for us to go…
(Down the corridor…down the corridor…of Vasari)
Somewhere safe for us to go…go…go…go…

(The chase commences…)

Stab him in the back…He’s never going back!
He’s Medici…He’s Medici   (repeats)

Wigmore: synths, production
Allen: Lyrics, Vocals, Guitars, Bass
Gibbons: Lyrics, Vocals

Vesari Corridor (He's Medici)

Mark Duffield: voice, vocal melody, lyrics https://soundcloud.com/markduffieldcollaboration
Jonathan Beckenstein: initial music, instruments, mixing
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Across the bay
Many many many miles away
See a crescent moon
Reflected in a field of poppies bloomed

Take a step into this vision, soon
Grab a flower and throw it at the moon

(YOU)
Don’t ask me how you’re gonna get there soon
(Don’t ask me, don’t ask me, do)
(YOU)
You might as well throw a flower at the moon

Throw a flower, a flower, at the moon
Throw a flower, a flower, at the moon

Save our wrecks
Oh then, say the best
Get it off your chest
Just another shipwreck

Another shipwreck
Get it off your chest
Another shipwreck
Get it off your chest
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
image: Bart Ros via Unsplash

Poppies (with Mark Duffield)

The hole that was loved!!
Gone but not forgotten....for many Sheffielders this 'near-brutalist' structure (see picture) remains a fondly-missed refuge and meeting place. Hole int' Road (to use the proper vernacular) was built in 1967 but filled in in 1994 to make way for the new tram system. Officially called Castle Square Roundabout it occupied the site of markets going back to 1296. The site is now a tram stop, with just distant memories of the subterranean meeting place with its benches, shops and even the famous fish tank. Shame indeed!

Hole in the Road Blues

The Trial
A Pico-Operetta for our Times

International Cast

Lady Humanity - Oddrun Eikli - Norway, vocals and lyric on the last song; @oddrun-eikli
Lord Mammon - Peter - England, All poetic lyrics in the operetta, except the last song; soundcloud.com/user-264930040/tracks
The Judge - David Dunham - USA, and acoustic guitar in the third song; @david-dunhamuser589535203
Music & Production - Seagull - Sweden, compilation, mixing, sound effects etc; @farout-music-studio

Here you can download all poetic lyrics: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/37k203an5c6azz0ekltvn/The-Trial-Libretto.pdf?rlkey=mope1vjiyqhaeo17b5u74dp2i&e=1&dl=0

Synopsis

Following unprecedented worldwide growth in human conflict, an emergency plenary session of the United Nations was convened late in 2023, tasked with finding new approaches to defuse global tension and ease conciliation. Recognising the abject failure of extant UN jurisdictions and powers, and in a radical restructuring of the international legal and security framework, that session established a new UN institution to sit alongside the International Court of Criminal Justice. The International Court of Moral Justice was formally incorporated into the UN Constitution on 1 January 2024.

The foundations of this infant organisation and those of the UN itself were shaken when it was revealed that the inaugural case to be heard by the ICMJ was to be a private prosecution brought by greed itself against the defendant, mankind’s innate sense of humanity.

In papers lodged with the court, the protagonist, Lord Mammon has asserted that the fundamental basis for human misery, the creation of discontent, thence envy and hence conflict, is to be found exclusively in false moral goodness and self-righteousness borne of a misplaced sense of benevolence. The human race survived and thrived, he states, not by moving at the pace of the slowest, or sharing resources with the weakest, but by taking and keeping, for the self alone, much more than is needed for basic subsistence, this being the singular route to strength, individual contentment and thus tolerance of others.

In reply, a broken and demoralised Lady Humanity has been compelled to present her own defence after failing to secure funding for a legal team to counter the advocates ranged in front of Lord Mammon. The case for the defence rests solely on the premise that good comes from within and cannot be created from nothing. So whilst she may try to bolster the moral cause in her work, she increasingly finds that the human souls she sees have no humanity in them whatsoever for her to strengthen, nothing to work with and as such, concedes that she has failed, but denounces the notion that it was for want of trying. Devoid of resources, supporters and allies of any kind she single handedly has held the fort against the self-perpetuating, self-reinforcing massed ranks of Mammon.

The Lord Chief Justice of the ICMJ along with his bench of associate judiciary adjourn proceedings to consider their findings and in the final act, return to deliver their verdict.

The Trial. A Pico-Operetta for our Times.

The Trial
A Pico-Operetta for our Times

International Cast:

Lady Humanity - Oddrun Eikli - Norway, vocals and lyric on the last song; @oddrun-eikli
Lord Mammon - Peter - England, All poetic lyrics in the operetta, except the last song; soundcloud.com/user-264930040/tracks
The Judge - David Dunham - USA, nylon-string guitar in the song for Lady Humanity's defense; @david dunhamuser589535203
Music & Production - Seagull - Sweden, compilation, mixing, sound effects, and acoustic guitars in last song; @farout-music-studio

Here you can download all poetic lyrics: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/37k203an5c…5u74dp2i&e=1&dl=0

Synopsis

Following unprecedented worldwide growth in human conflict, an emergency plenary session of the United Nations was convened late in 2023, tasked with finding new approaches to defuse global tension and ease conciliation. Recognizing the abject failure of extant UN jurisdictions and powers, and in a radical restructuring of the international legal and security framework, that session established a new UN institution to sit alongside the International Court of Criminal Justice. The International Court of Moral Justice was formally incorporated into the UN Constitution on 1 January 2024.

The foundations of this infant organization and those of the UN itself were shaken when it was revealed that the inaugural case to be heard by the ICMJ was to be a private prosecution brought by greed (Lord Mammon) against the defendant, mankind’s innate sense of humanity personified by Lady Humanity

In papers lodged with the court, the protagonist, Lord Mammon has asserted that the fundamental basis for human misery, the creation of discontent, thence envy and hence conflict, is to be found exclusively in false moral goodness and self-righteousness borne of a misplaced sense of benevolence. The human race survived and thrived, he states, not by moving at the pace of the slowest, or sharing resources with the weakest, but by taking and keeping, for the self alone, much more than is needed for basic subsistence, this being the singular route to strength, individual contentment and thus tolerance of others.

In reply, a broken and demoralized Lady Humanity has been compelled to present her own defense after failing to secure funding for a legal team to counter the advocates ranged in front of Lord Mammon. The case for the defense rests solely on the premise that good comes from within and cannot be created from nothing. So whilst she may try to bolster the moral cause in her work, she increasingly finds that the human souls she sees have no humanity in them whatsoever for her to strengthen, nothing to work with and as such, concedes that she has failed, but denounces the notion that it was for want of trying. Devoid of resources, supporters and allies of any kind she single handedly has held the fort against the self-perpetuating, self-reinforcing massed ranks of Mammon.

The Lord Chief Justice of the ICMJ along with his bench of associate judiciary adjourn proceedings to consider their findings and in the final act, return to deliver their verdict.

The Trial - A Pico Operetta for Our Times

Snowdrop

Wake, and listen to the hexagon flakes
As they settle and creak when their crystals break.
Hush and still, ‘midst nothing that moves
Save the shifting of blue through its million hues.
Symmetry’s spike snow castles sinking in air
Through a vacuum of silence, vespered and spare;
On a mission of white, whence no colour escapes.

A last flit of drips splice the edge of the eye,
Now chilled to ice, stilled, sit solidified.
The spangled twig spawns its prickles of frost
As the aphid learned to its mortal cost.
Sarcophagi of sugar grace comatose trees;
Witch fingers frozen where once lived the leaves.
Soft as wings whisper’d where the barn owl cries.

Tarry in tryst at the grey mirror’d lake,
Palaced in mist, now translucent, now opaque,
Where a hesitant track of delicate doe prints
Placed balletically en pointe where desiccate snow glints
In moon rays cold as laboratory lasers,
Sparkling an arc of dark lunar phases
Whilst earthbound in hiding, the snowdrop bulb wakes…

Photo by Joshua Fuller on Unsplash

Snowdrop

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