The Poetry of Rock n' Roll: "Urn" by Chanel Beads

To observe National Poetry Month, once a week I am featuring lyrics of rock n' roll or pop songs that also double as exquisite poetry.

And we start off the month with a set of short lyrics from the song "Urn" by Chanel Beads, Shane Lavers' uncategorizable musical project (I posted a live set they played this past autumn that knocked my socks off here). A fleeting look at a certain aspect of death, one that we never think of until we are faced with it, occupies the first two lines of the song. Having one's grief free-floating or fixed is a powerful conundrum. We who are left when a loved one dies have to navigate the actual physical remains and what that means emotionally, since it is all that is left...buried in the earth or cremated and put...somewhere.

Urn
by Chanel Beads

Sometimes, I wish that we buried you now
Assigned a location to my grief somehow
But I know that you would think the cemetery is silly
It's dust to me
Your ashes move too quickly

It's funny, numbers have significance now
Yeah, your birthday that kinda hurts me now
Like the day you died, the day you drank all that honey
Like the day you died, the day you got sick from drinking honey

https://www.instagram.com/chanel_beads/

"Christine's Circus"

In honor of National Poetry Month, I will be posting work by myself each Friday.

Last year, I learned of the death of a very close friend of mine whom I had known for forty years. We met in a drama class in college and she was a spectacular presence. Her high energy and explosive sense of humor was only matched by her fearlessness. She dove into any unusual situation, any odd job, any red-flag romance with bravado. But later her modus operandi gave way to mental illness, possibly bi-polar or manic depression, which she self-medicated with alcohol (and maybe more). She was troubled and she struggled against life itself, seemingly punching the air at all the injustice in her life and in other's, at anything and everything around her. I did as much as I could to help her but she disappeared from my life for periods and would resurface living in another part of the country, sometimes homeless, having suffered some more. As one could possibly guess, she ended up in the prison system the last several years. I spoke with her last year when she phoned me out of the blue, and it was a heartbreaking, erratic conversation in which she said she was going to buy property in Wales, and that she was feeding a family of racoons. The racoon part was not surprising...she adored animals, all of them, and often took in any stray dog or cat that crossed her path, and showered them with great love and care. I wrote this poem for her in 1991, already sensing the trajectory of her life. And now she is gone.

Christine's Circus

After she left college and
before she settled down,
Christine joined a
traveling circus.
After intermission,
she was a dancing
harem girl,
shaking her tambourine,
circling the tent
with the caravan.
They’d get the animals
ready, in a line:
white horses in
Arabian caparisons,
elephants with lions
riding on their backs...
and camels
loaded with parcels
and boxes and goods.
The cast assembled.

But the camels
always had trouble
getting up.
Their legs would shake
as they tried to
lift the weight.
“I have watched
those camels struggle,
with all that shit
strapped to them--
five days a week,
two shows on Saturdays--
and when the camels
were a little too slow,
they were whipped.”

One night, when
two of the camels
just couldn’t get up,
she ran into
the center ring and
led the audience in
“The Star Spangled Banner”
to stall for time.

Now, in her dreams,
she sees the camels
in a storybook
she reads to some children...
C is for Camel.

©JEF 1991

I hope you have found some peace and rest my friend, as you join the everything of the Universe.

"Poetry as Insurgent Art [I am signaling you through the flames]" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Every Wednesday of this National Poetry Month 2025, I will be sharing exquisite poems by monumental poets. And today I share the powerful, urgent "Poetry as Insurgent Art [I am signaling you through the flames]" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, because we live in desperate times and this poem is needed.

Poetry as Insurgent Art [I am signaling you through the flames]
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

I am signaling you through the flames.

The North Pole is not where it used to be.

Manifest Destiny is no longer manifest.

Civilization self-destructs.

Nemesis is knocking at the door.

What are poets for, in such an age?
What is the use of poetry?

The state of the world calls out for poetry to save it.

If you would be a poet, create works capable of answering the challenge of apocalyptic times, even if this meaning sounds apocalyptic.

You are Whitman, you are Poe, you are Mark Twain, you are Emily Dickinson and Edna St. Vincent Millay, you are Neruda and Mayakovsky and Pasolini, you are an American or a non-American, you can conquer the conquerors with words....

Happy National Poetry Month 2025!

April is National Poetry Month, sponsored by the Academy of American Poets since 1996. And this year marks the celebration's 29th anniversary! Over the years, it has become the largest literary celebration in the world with schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets celebrating poetry’s vital place in our culture.

How to celebrate?
- Read your favorite poet again.
- Read some new poetry.
- Find a new favorite poet.
- Write some poetry.
- Leave poems for people to find in public places.
- Read poetry out loud to family and friends.
- Dream a poem.

Throughout April, I'll be posting poems, some by me, some by others, as well as a series of lyrics to popular songs that double as exquisite poetry.

And this year, Poem in Your Pocket Day is Thursday April 25th! Every April, on Poem in Your Pocket Day, people celebrate by selecting a poem, carrying it with them, and sharing it with others throughout the day at schools, bookstores, libraries, parks, workplaces, and on social media using the hashtag #pocketpoem.

Poem in Your Pocket Day was originally initiated in 2002 by the Office of the Mayor, in partnership with the New York City Departments of Cultural Affairs and Education, as part of the city’s National Poetry Month celebration. In 2008, the Academy of American Poets took the initiative to all fifty United States, encouraging individuals around the country to join in and channel their inner bard. In 2016, the League of Canadian Poets extended Poem in Your Pocket Day to Canada.

To kick off the month, here is an incredibly inspiring quote about the nature of poetry itself from Robert Frost:
“A poem begins with a lump in the throat; a homesickness or a love sickness. It is a reaching-out toward expression; an effort to find fulfillment. A complete poem is one where an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words”.
--Robert Frost

Happy National Poetry Month!

https://poets.org/