More Poems

Here are four more poems I have written for my poetry anthology.

Cinquain: A Typical Morning

Waiting at the bus stop

For the bus to arrive

In the cold, icy, pouring rain

Alone

Diamante: Education

Sciences

Logical, Numerical

Experimenting, Analyzing, Researching

School, Teachers, Knowledge, Tests

Writing, Reading, Speaking

Creative, Literary

English

Haiku: The Tricky Rose

The tricky red rose

Is deceptively pretty

With its sharp pure thorns

Limerick: The Needy Girl

There was a girl who sat beside me

She was drinking some black bean coffee

She looked stressed in the eye

And gave a big sigh

And said “man I need me some whiskey”

Poetry Contest Submissions

These are the contests I submitted my poems to, I sent six to four different contests, with one of them requiring three poems.

• Open Ages Poetry Contest - Young writers of Canada (http://youngwritersofcanada.ca/contests/)
• Annual Young Writers Poetry Contest - Young writers of Canada (http://youngwritersofcanada.ca/contests/)
• Poem of the Week - Cultured Vultures (required three poems) (http://culturedvultures.com/poem-week-free-poetry-competition/)
• Poetry Contest K-12 - Creative Communications (poeticpower.com)

Bard on the Beach Alternative Assignment

1. According to the test I am a visual learner.
2. If someone were to ask me if I was a physical or sedentary person a few months ago I would have said no.  Last year I was a much more active person as I ran around 2 km every day while taking breaks on weekends.  This stopped after a few months because I got lazy and became unmotivated.  In the past few months I have started weightlifting training and I am becoming more active again which makes me very pleased as I know this healthy lifestyle will benefit me.  
3. Thinking about how exercise and having a healthy lifestyle upgrades one’s cognitive skills is very interesting because looking at my intelligent friends, I can see that many of them are very active people.  I think it’s good that some schools are putting more emphasis on physical education because not only will an active lifestyle make your cognition go up, it will be good for your overall mental and physical wellbeing.  
4. With finals coming up I am becoming more and more stressed, but every year everyone has to go through the same thing and it helps to know that i’m not the only one freaking out.  For next year I want to listen to lots of music and becoming more proficient with the guitar as well as maintaining a healthy grade average.  To reach these goals I will practice guitar every day and attempt to listen to lots of different artists.  For my academics I will try to procrastinate less.

Self Publishing Poem Project

   

Comfy Cocoons

How nice it would be

To lay in our comfy cocoons

All along

The lazy afternoons,

And perhaps when we feel

When the time is right

We can take off

Into the future with flight,

Because what real use

Is it to stay at home

In our comfy cocoons

All alone.

      The two main methods I focused on for this project revolved around self publishing through advertising and speech.  Since I was putting all my time and energy into only two methods I wanted to take each one to a whole new level.

     For advertising, the video below shows me travelling all around UBC as I attempt to place a poem in every single faculty building.  As for speech, I wanted to speak with every custodian in each 

building about my poem and see what they had to say about it.  I 

got different results from everyone I spoke with.  Some were not interested and told me they were busy with work while others happily read my poem.  There was even one custodian that became angry with me when I tried to talk to him about my poem.  I was quite intimidated at times, but I made many new friends with the nicer ones and i'm very content with that.

     My favorite building that I went to was definitely Allard Hall, the UBC faculty of law.  There was a very kind old lady who worked the evening shifts at the building and was kind enough to read my poem.  The best part was the positive feedback, she told me how she loved the simplicity and theme of it.  We quickly became acquainted and we spent some time afterwards talking about miscellaneous things.

     I have met many different characters along the way of this self publishing journey and I am sure I won't be able to remember all of their names, but this English project has allowed me to become exposed to various personalities that I otherwise would have never met.  Showing them my writing was a very scary thing to do but i'm satisfied with the feedback (and denials) I received.  All in all this was a very interesting experience and I hope I did not bother the custodians too much.

Click here to watch the video

Poem: Empty Like My Wallet

Your scream sounds like a crisp dollar bill

like broken glass flying

like a bullet of water slicing

through a crusty rock

like a mushed soda can

like the fragments from a shattered marshmallow

like rock beating scissors

like paper losing to scissors

like an empty ATM machine

like an overused fireman pole rotting

in the empty station echoing forever

like the fan from an overheating laptop

like an untuned guitar

like a terrible movie that lasts forever

like an explosive pillow fight

like a barrage of bowling pins haunting

a lone bowling ball

like the popping oil from a frying egg

like a baseball punching a mitt

like the feedback from an overly experimental song

like a crying chili pepper

like bad Christmas decorations

like a cast that doesn't fit properly

on your swollen ankle

like a fruitless workout

like a fruit that looks like it has worked out

like the crash of a mighty cymbal

like an empty wallet

like the jingle of your tennis racket

like an awkward USB stick

like the scream I heard when riding the space needle elevator

as we ascended above the vast metropolis

Poem: The Inflated Balloon

So much depends

upon

An inflated

balloon

Clutched by a

child

To give him a

smile

Just a Gigolo

"I ain't got nobody"

     Many times has this line been repeated throughout musical history and many times has it always been a thrill to listen to.  These words come from "Just a Gigolo", a traditional pop swing song that was made famous by the American singer Louis Prima in 1956.  

Louis Prima - Just a Gigolo  
                                                                                                                                                                   
     Though the tune was incredibly catchy and memorable, this was not an original composition. Prima had actually combined two songs together to create the final product of "Just a Gigolo".  The two songs he mashed together were "I Ain't Got Nobody" a 1915 piece by Spencer Williams and Roger A. Graham, and the original version of "Just a Gigolo", "Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo" which was the very first recorded version of the song.  It was composed by Leonello Casucci, an Austrian musician.

Leonello Casucci (Performed by Dajos Béla) - Just a Gigolo

Spencer Williams / Roger A. Graham (Performed by Coon-Sanders Orch.) - I Ain't Got Nobody


  Many people are not aware that the song is not completely Prima's work, although it is undeniably the better product of the two songs. As Prima's signature tune continued to grow famous, more artists began to create their own covers of the song.  


The next most significant adaption sprung into life during the funky and hip era of disco; The 70's. In 1978 The Village People produced a disco version of the piece, and boy did it have rhythm. It is an immense shame that I could not find any high quality recordings of this song whatsoever, but nonetheless give it a listen.  

Village People - Just a Gigolo

     It is always extremely satisfying to see an old hit be covered.  What's even more thrilling to see is to then watch that very cover became just as famous (and perhaps even more) as the original song.  David Lee Roth did just this.

David Lee Roth - Just a Gigolo (Skip to 1:37 for the actual music)

     Lead vocalist of Van Halen, David Lee Roth took a small break from the band and decided to have some time for himself in 1985.  What he delivered to us during that break was one of the most  soulful-pop songs I have ever heard.  You can just hear the raw passion in his voice, and he really does seem like he's singing his heart out.  David Lee Roth's innovative music video for the single was the biggest factor that contributed to his success, and boy is it amusing.

    Now i'm sure that you might be scratching your heads with confusion right now if you watched the video.  The inappropriateness in the video may seem very unexpected, but in fact it is quite relevant to the song.  It may seem surprising but "gigolo" actually means "male escort":  A man who gets payed for his sexual attention and companionship.  The entire song is based on a gigolo singing about how he feels about his miserable life, but with a very light and bright tone.

    And now we come to the final and most fitting adaption for our generation; The pop version.  The Latin pop artist Lou Bega did quite a decent job by modernizing it with heavy bass beats and only god knows how many pop horns they used.

 Lou Bega - Just a Gigolo

     This 2001 rendition of the original gives it a completely new feel that makes you want to get up and party hard.  It is not very well known as Lou Bega is considered to be a one hit wonder with his infamous tune "Mambo No. 5" and had most of his other works overlooked.


    One song, four genres:  Swing, disco, pop rock, and pop.  Out of the four my personal favorite would have to be the original Louis Prima composition with it's smooth swing feel and powerful vocals.  I absolutely adore the call and response section, and I especially enjoy when the trumpet plays on the offbeat.  It sounds absolutely incredible and I would highly suggest to pay attention to the horns throughout the song.

     "Just a Gigolo" has traveled through different generations with varying popularity, but what's amazing is how it persevered.  By leaving a giant mark in the music world during the 50's, it has journeyed into the 21st Century with pride and is relevant to this very day.  I would not mind to see another cover, but I think the history of the song is fine as it is and can be left alone with it's rich past, and as Louis Prima brightly lamented,

"There will come a day when youth will pass away,
What would they say about me?"

All we can say Louis is youth certainly did pass away.

But you'll be timeless.