In a night so still I summon you
hear me calling out your name, goddess
I want you here
will you lead me to your sea of love
or leave me lying here
on the burning sands
In a night so still I summon you
I’ll speak a little louder, goddess
I want you here
will you take me where the kingdom comes
or leave me lying here
where souls disappear
In a night so still I summon you
I’ll even shout, goddess
I want you here
will you make this life livable
or leave me lying here
where I’m losing the reasons to breathe
In a night so still I summon you
C’mon, goddess
I want you here
will you take me home to glory’s throne
or leave me lying here
red eyes and tears
In a night so still I summon you
I won’t say it again, goddess
I want you here
will you lead me to your armchair
or leave me lying here
your onion peeling slave
In a night so still I summon you
cut the crap, goddess
the government is looking for a saw
to cut a thousand loaves of bread in half
and all I want is a haircut
will you give it to me?
In a night so still I summon you
I don’t know what to say, goddess
they said I was your favorite prize
your favorite smile
your favorite mirror
not your favorite game
In a night so still I summon you
why did you play me this way, goddess
you held me down
and it’s always this way
now I know better
So put your hands where I can see them
In a night so still I summon you
to tell you that we are through, goddess
I’d rather spend the night alone in my room
than spend the night alone summoning you
do you hear me?
So much for the night so still
so much for the whistling in the wind, goddess
Is it in my genes – I don’t know
but I guess what you think is true
I could never be the right kind of dog for you
and I go la la la la la
***
In a Night so Still I Go La La La La La is a found poem made of:
Three poems
Preveza, by Kostas Karyotakis, translated by Peter J. King and Andreas Christofidou
In the Goddess’s Name I Summon You…, by George Seferis, translated by Edmund Keeley
The Monogram, by Odysseus Elytis, translated by Youlika K. Masry (© February 14, 2018)
One Wikipedia article
Greek government-debt crisis
And 14 songs – some better than others and a crappy one
Hands Up – I Love You – Madrugada
Red Eyes and Tears – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
As Sure as the Sun – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
I Wanna Be Your Dog – The Stooges
Not Right – The Stooges
In Your Room – Depeche Mode
Strangelove – Depeche Mode
I Feel You – Depeche Mode
Blue – Vermillion Lies
To Binge – Gorillaz
I Can Never Be Your Woman – White Town
Big Love – Fleetwood Mac
Everywhere – Fleetwood Mac
She’s Got the Look – Roxette
***
© Basilike Pappa, 2018
(Image: Incantation, by Anne W. Brigman, 1905 – Pinterest)
Fascinating, entertaining…now let me go and think on it some more.
Such a fan of you and your creative fire B 👏🏻❤️
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Always lovely to see you here, Diana! Thank you!
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The pleasure is all mine …. I always jump when I see you have written 😊🌸
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Sending you kisses!
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😍 Glorious! Smiling large!
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This is absolutely brilliant!!! It is a fairytale and a rant, mystical and in your face. And, so damn creative. You are incredible!!!! You are a writer with both the words and the vision!
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Thank you, Susan!
I like found poetry very much. It’s fun to write, and it’s always a surprise. I’m never sure from the beginning how the poem will go.
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I honestly don’t think I ever really understood what it was until now. You are introducing me to new things!!!!!
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That’s great to hear!
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You should try it!
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I’ve been experimenting recently and love it. It is really fun to write.
Great piece, B. Your writing is really unique.
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Thank you, Bojana! Are you going to post any of your experiments?
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One fine day…
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I’ll be waiting
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In the meantime….
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interesting read.
in a night that will be so still
I will summon the poet’s goddess
and ask her to read this poem
as its supposed to be.
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Thank you!
And maybe do her job?
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haha yes, once summoned she has no choice.
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She’d better!
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This is a beautiful thing, I call to the Goddess, but I can’t hear her over the crickets. Thanks for building it.
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And thank you for being here to read it!
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I’m a huge Depeche Mode fan, and I was reading this and thinking ‘that sounds like DM lyrics?’ Haha. x
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I like Depeche Mode too. Does it show?
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Haha.
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Wow. What a wide variety of sources for your poem, Basilike. And you pulled it off. I’m fascinated by found poems in general. They make me think about the interconnectedness of beauty and how art is everywhere if we are willing to “find” it.
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I haven’t written much found poetry, but every time I do I find it very interesting. I never begin with a clear idea of what I want to do. I may choose two or three songs with a more or less connected theme, and the rest comes along the way. It’s like an exercise for the mind, finding the interconnectedness between completely different pieces of writing.
Thank you so much for reading!
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I fucking love this! So many great lines, tough to point out just one or two. The whole thing flowed beautifully. Nice work!
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Thank you, Michael!
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What an amazing way to right. I am floored by the depth of composition to what you have structured here
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Thank you, Wolf!
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This was brilliant. Such an entertaining read.
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Such an interesting idea! Impressed!
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Thank you dear! It’s a lot of fun, trust me.
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Reblogged this on A Global Divergent Literary Collective and commented:
Basilike Pappa/Silent Hour
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Thank you!
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Bislilike this a glorious composition.
Like three phases . . .
from pleading adoration
to seething resignation.
You have certainly summoned
a poetic apparition.
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Thank you, David! I thought you’d like it!
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Very much so.
The atmospherics of your
prose left me in an ethereal
mist, thunder struck.
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And still no goddess around.
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One man’s termagant, another man’s goddess.
A goddess, of goodness
and graciousness, in the
eyes of the beholder.
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Nice word, termagant. Just looked it up.
I definitely have goodness and graciousness. Are you describing me?
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Your poetry reveals the
inner idealised goddess.
We are all
multidimensional beings.
But artists are
celestial explorers.
And to the heavens
the closest.
Yet, at times
loiter the gates of hades
. . . by choice.
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I don’t know if you realize how good is this you wrote.
( Yet, at times
loiter the gates of hades
. . . by choice — and wearing frilled shirts)
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Hades does have a dress code.
As it is in Heaven, and on Earth,
‘Sacrifice is the code of the road’.
Thank your, Basilike, for your encouragement
to an aspiring Wordsworth.
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You are very good, David, with or without my encouragement!
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You are so clever, and unique! Very entertaining!
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Thank you, Vanessa! What a sweet comment!
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My pleasure!
You also made me think of songs I haven’t in ages! 😁
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I heard the Roxette song in a cafe after so many years, and I thought ‘where was that crap all this time? I need to use it for something’.
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now that really did make me laugh out loud. And I am so glad you did!
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So am I!
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On a night like this I’m reading you … word goddess Basilike … I smile a while and feel.
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Thank you, Eric! Sending you a kiss.
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Received with pleasure – thank you!
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This is like a mysterious chest of wonders. I couldn’t stop going back to that line “onion peeling slave”!
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Thank you!
The onion peeling is a phrase taken from the poem Preveza. I wish you could read it in Greek, because the English translation I found is a decent effort, but much is lost.
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Thank you! I’ll take a look at it! Your poems read out loud makes irresistible sounds, I would love to hear your poetry readings some day!
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I’ll start thinking about it!
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Superb piece! Brava!
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Thank you!
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😉
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I love your style, its crispness. Like linen sheets fresh from the clothes lines. Thank you for sharing this.
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Μaggie, this is an incredible compliment! Thank you very much!
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You’re most welcome. I love being given the opportunity to see the world through your eyes and words.
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