Underground lyrical poetry music draws folks from around the world

Bondi Beach, Australia surf (photo by Duncan Rawlinson)

As I thought you might be wondering why folks around the world are listening to and liking our new lyrical poetry music, here's where we're most popular and a sampling of comments from folks about our songs. 

In the past week folks from cities around the US and world and talking about our music on Facebook:

Saint Augustine, FL

London, England, United Kingdom          

Cleveland, OH  

Ypsilanti, MI      

Apple Valley, CA              

Saint Louis, MO

Elazıg, Elazig, Turkey

Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, Espirito Santo, Brazil  

Omagh, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom        

Saint Augustine Beach, FL           

San Francisco, CA            

Tietê, São Paulo, Brazil  

Scottsdale, AZ  

Santa Barbara, CA           

New York, NY   

Berlin, Germany

Malibu, CA         

El Paso, TX          

Elgin, IL

Knoxville, TN

Where is our music most popular?  While our underground poetry music isn't drawing tons of folks, people listen from all over the world.  The following are the top countries of fans of our music on our Facebook page (you're welcome to join them):

United States of America

United Kingdom              

Canada

India     

Australia             

Ireland 

Germany            

Italy      

New Zealand    

France 

Indonesia           

Brazil    

Greece

Russia  

South Africa      

Nigeria 

Thailand              

Philippine

Mexico

Argentina

I also want to share with you some of our many listener comments and reviews of our music:

"I continue to be amazed by your remarkable talent and the beautiful artistry of your lyrics. Such a refreshing musical experience! " - Chrystee McCabe, author, journalist, Manhattan

 "A superb song (Woody Blues) and a great salute to Woody Guthrie!" -
Graham Butterfield, #1 Folk Music Artist, Exeter, UK

"When spoken-word merges with music, hip-hop is just one of the ways it can come out. If the poet doesn't go for the verbal athletics of speaking on the beat, his voice becomes incantatory...Mike Marcellino... a show that spoken-word fans shouldn't miss." - Michael Gill, Cleveland Scene

"The pieces depict different parts of New York City from its jarring traffic to its more calming fountains. His (Mike Marcellino's) words incite a sense of dreams embodied by the city: “Flew into New York/ on wings of Peter Pan./Flew into New York/ on wings of Babylon./ Jupiter in the right now/ not as bright,/ on this clear an' quiet night” (Marcellino, “Flatbush”)." - Niya Panamdanam, The Review Review

"West of the Pecos is a masterpiece, the voice, poetry, rhythm and the music. " - Maz Las, journalist, Algeria

 "(Into the nowhere zone) has killer base lines and a tight rhythm groove. The spoken word is spot on. Good work! You caught the spirit of the wave in this one...! - James Owen Sherpard, blues guitarist

 "Very enlightening and extremely creative! You are a brilliant soul! " - Judy Giles, poet, San Diego, CA

 "I listened to your amazing music-lyrics-words,I love it (Taipei subway), great work" - Farid Bitar, poet, New York City

 "Keep up the beautiful work! You are an inspiration to many " - Agata Zak, actor, New York City

"This (The Walls of Fire) lovely and haunting piece of poetry should be a world wide sensation" - Paul Donohoe, writer's review, Tasmania, Australia

"I really like West Of The Pecos: beautiful. There's a tautness to the language, a compression that works well for me in my ears & heart & head. " - Duane Esposito, English professor, poet, NYC

"Mike, not everyday you get sensory poetry from Flatbush to West of the Pecos, with a little bit of Las Cruces thrown in for good measure. Very cool. " - Gordon Basichis, author, Los Angeles

"It's (Alphabet Coffeehouse) wonderful!...Reminds me very much of the East Village and that day." - Rebecca Turner, New Jersey singer songwriter,

 "Wow Mike, I'm mesmerized by your spoken words/poetry with background music. Your body of work here is just stunning. I bow to you in your channeling of the beat poets. " - Eve Paludian, author,

'Woody Blues' : Mike Marcellino's 'talk' with Woody Guthrie, an American folk music legend

This Hard Travlin' poster of the art of legendary American folk singer of the Great Depression was published by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996

Hard travelin': 'Woody Blues' story

The evolving interest in the Oklahoma cowboy Woody Guthrie first led Mike Marcellino to write a poem about Woody in view of how things are today, called "St. Augustine, Woody Blues."  Now the poem has turned into Woody Blues, a lyrical poetry song recording with Mike doing the lyrics and vocal and Tomas Texino doing the music and on electric guitar and synthesizer.  

Mike says his interest in the life and folk music of Guthrie, popular troubadour across America during the Great Depression of the 1930s, started long ago in the early 1960s when he fist started listening to the likes of Bob Dylan, who admired and was influenced by Guthrie.  Guthrie's songs that interest Mike are about the downtrodden and the working families.  His continuing interest got a boost on a wild road trip in the summer of 1964, from North Carolina to California, winding up in New York City.  (The subject of Mike's short memoir, a limited edition, New York Revisited, published in Cleveland in 2008 or so in advance of Mike's poetry music performing tours in New York City, the last one in the fall of 2010.)  

"My favorite Woody Guthrie songs are Pretty Boy Floyd and Hard Travlin'," Mike says.  "But then, I still listening."  Mike's poetry music covers the waterfront, and he invites you to listen to "Woody Blues" his 11th in a series of recordings that began in the fall of 2009.  He released 6-song limited tour CD "Notebook Writer" in 2010.  A new, full album is in the works along with a series of performances in the United States and Europe.  

Add, Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) to that list of my favorite Woody Guthrie songs: list gonna grow and grow:  add California Stars and Ingrid Bergman (I like those two by Wilco and Bily Bragg on Mermaind Avenue, a two-CD set of Woody's songs) it's gonna grow and grow...

"I'll never lose my interest in Woody Guthrie, for me, he was the first real voice I heard, along with Dylan.  They're both great American writers,"  Mike added.  Woody would have turned 100 on July 14, 2012 if he were alive.

Mike says you can help preserve Woody's legacy and archives by supporting the Woody Guthrie Foundation, a non-profit organization.  In fact Mike discovered the Hard Travlin poster of the art by Woody Guthrie can be purchased at the Woody Guthrie website by clicking this link.  And, Mike just may have to get one himself cause his "Hard Travlin" T-shirt's coming apart.  Mike picked up the T-shirt in Cleveland in 1996 at the time of the 10-day celebration of Guthrie's music put on by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum and Case Western Reserve University.  

The Woody Guthrie Store

And, finally, here's a link to the main Woody Guthrie website.  In 1988 Guthrie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Woody was the first artist celebrated in the rock hall's annual master series in 1996, an event Mike didn't miss.

WoodyGuthrie.org

You can listen to Mike's new song "Woody Blues" on the music player at the top.  Here, also, is a link to our music site on ReverbNation.  Listening is free; share our music and like us on our Facebook music page.

Woody Blues

by Mike Marcellino


First it was my army backpack.
Then
my old yellow T-shirt
with The Lillies on
gone.

The day after
Friday the Thirteenth
they took
my real leather beach shoes
right on your birthday.
One an' all.
One an' all.
Got the Saint Augustine,
Woody Blues.

So, this becomes
your birthday song
from the sand beaches
of the Great Recession
to dust bowls
of the Great Depression.
One an' all.
One an' all.
Got the Saint Augustine,
Woody Blues.

"As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said 'No Trespassing.'
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me."

So Woody, tell me,
Is this still our land -
"From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters?"
Or is it just a den of greed and thieves?
Did you have to nail stuff down,
back then
on the box car roads to California?
Or, just watch out
gettin' beat up bound for glory?
One an' all.
One an' all.
Got the Saint Augustine,
Woody Blues.

Now, another century
Jammin'
on Roosevelt Island.
Makin' up some songs
on the streets of Cleveland.
Trekking cross country
thumb out all the way.
Nothin' to lose anymore,
except everything
when the trucker fell asleep.
One an' all.
One an' all.
Got the Saint Augustine,
Woody Blues.
"Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me."

Thanks for the borrowed lines, Woody.
They're mighty fine.
One an' all.
One an' all.
Got the Saint Augustine,
Woody Blues.

St. Augustine, Woody Blues and Woody Blues recording lyrics by Mike Marcellino, copyright 2012

So long, been good ta know ya - here's This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie in a rare Depression era video

My song to Woody Guthrie: "Got the Saint Augustine, Woody Blues"

The Harder They Come, written by Jamaican singer Jimmy Cliff, performed by Willie Nelson and Ryan Adams, Live, David Letterman Show 2002.



Got the Saint Augustine,
Woody Blues

by Mike Marcellino



First it was my army backpack.

Then

my old yellow T-shirt

with The Lillies on

gone.

The day after

Friday the Thirteenth

they took

my real leather beach shoes

right on your birthday.

One an' all.

One an' all.

Got the Saint Augustine,

Woody Blues.


Mike Marcellino performs at Gallery RIVAA on Roosevelt Island in New York City





So, this becomes

your birthday song

from the sand beaches

of the Great Recession

to dust bowls

of the Great Depression.

One an' all.

One an' all.

Got the Saint Augustine,

Woody Blues.


"As I went walking I saw a sign there

And on the sign it said 'No Trespassing.'

But on the other side it didn't say nothing,

That side was made for you and me."


So Woody, tell me,

Is this still our land -

"From California to the New York island;

From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters?"

Or is it just a den of greed and thieves?


Did you have to nail stuff down,

back then

on the box car roads to California?

Or, just watch out

gettin' beat up bound for glory?

One an' all.

One an' all.

Got the Saint Augustine,

Woody Blues.


Now, another century

Jammin'

on Roosevelt Island.

Makin' up some songs

on the streets of Cleveland.

Trekking cross country

thumb out all the way.


Nothin' to lose anymore,

except everything

when the trucker fell asleep.

One an' all.

One an' all.

Got the Saint Augustine,

Woody Blues.

Add caption

American folk singing legend Woody Guthrie, born July 14, 1912, Okemah, Oklahoma; died October 3, 1967 in New York City, at age 55 from Huntington's disease

"Nobody living can ever stop me,

As I go walking that freedom highway;

Nobody living can ever make me turn back

This land was made for you and me."


Thanks for the borrowed lines.

They're mighty fine.

One an' all.

One an' all.

Got the Saint Augustine,

Woody Blues.

Got the Saint Augustine,Woody Blues by Mike Marcellino, copyright 2012

"This Land Is Your Land" by Woody Guthrie

"This Is Your Land," Bruce Springsteen, Los Angeles, 1985

Song of liberty, pain, war and peace: "Born in the USA"

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band perform "Born in the USA" live in Paris during their two-year Born in the USA World Tour

"I wrote this song about the Vietnam war, tonight we sing it as a prayer for peace" 
- Bruce Springsteen speaking in Catalan live in Barcelona 2003

"Born in the USA" acoustic, from Spain

Born in the USA postscript
by Mike Marcellino

I wrote the following column on The Fourth of July 2012, and decided to explain point blank what the song "Born in the USA" is all about from the perspective of a combat veteran of the Vietnam War.

Today, I just discovered in his own words what the song means to Springsteen, at least now.
I agree with his dedication in Barcelona of "Born in the USA" as a prayer for peace.  Amen, Bruce.


People debate over whether Bruce Springsteen's song "Born in the USA" is unpatriotic.  Well, they then they either know nothing or are without understanding of the Vietnam War and the high price paid by 3 million American troops who served in country, the 58,282 who died, 303,644 wounded and the 1,672 still missing in action.  

When troops came home from the battlefields they weren't given any transition assistance, weren't asked a single meaningful question even in hospitals. Instead we were blamed for the war, called "baby killers," treated with disdain and even spit upon.  

Many who served had a rough life to begin with.  Many opposed the war.  Many stayed in college to avoid the draft (Bill Clinton), joined the National Guard (George Walker Bush), many got marred and had kids, some fled to Canada and elsewhere.  

I served a combat correspondent and photojournalist in the U.S. Army and traveled through much of South Vietnam and even Cambodia.  I couldn't be prouder of those I served with and looked out for me (since I carried cameras and notebooks instead of my M-14). They were the best!  They defined courage.  

So don't ever tell me that our song "Born in the USA" is unpatriotic.  

It doesn't make any difference if your like the song or not, or what your politics are.  Given our sacrifices in American longest war (10 years). I ask, how patriotic can you get?  

We are "brothers in arms."  And, that song by the British rock band Dire Straits is probably our most cherished anthem, along with "Fortunate Son" by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and and "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" recorded by British rock band The Animals.    

"Born in the USA" is a song about my brothers in arms.  

Mark Knopfler performing one of the best verions ever of “Brothers in Arms” during “Music for Montserrat,” live from Royal Albert Hall, London – 15 September 1997

Song of liberty, pain, war and peace:  Born in the USA

by Mike Marcellino

The 1984 album Born in the USA was #1 on the charts in the United States and in other countries throughout the world, except for France and Italy where it was #2 and Japan #6. Considering the language differences that's amazing.

I wrote this piece after finding debates on YouTube by people over whether "Born in the USA" is a patriotic song or not.

Listening to the bursts of fireworks outside my window, (always makes me a bit jumpy, as they sound much mortar, rocket or bombs) I think of the Fourth of July and I think of Bruce Springsteen's title song Born in the USA.

If you've struggled in your life trying to make ends meet, or served in the U. S. armed forces sticking your neck out or getting wounded you understand the song. If you're the family of a loved one who didn't come home you understand.  Now some folks may not like Born in the USA, the song, but they understand it.

Americans have courage and the determination to overcome.  We've proven that for more than 236 years.

The YouTube comments debate misses the point, entirely.  Patriotism is having opinions and standing behind them, even when they are different than the majority or oppose the government or its decisions.  That's liberty.  That's what our soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen and guardsmen have fought to create and preserve.

What real Americans agree on and believe in is making our country a better nation with liberty and justice for all.  Americans know their country makes mistakes, is terribly wrong at times, but they know we must overcome and endure.

Our troops don't make wars; not right ones or wrong ones; but our troops are the best in the world and have lost very few battles, including the Vietnam War.

Our elected officials, the president and Congress makes wars; but men and women in the armed forces answer our nation's call; if we hadn't many of us would not be here; or all of us might be here without our liberty.

From all over the world, people continue to seek refuge from oppression in the United States.  People from all over the world continue to immigrate to America, many wait and many try anything to get here and stay.

The reason is liberty, though our nation remains imperfect.

My comrades and I who served on the battlefields understand what Born in the USA means, whether we like the song or not.

Born in the USA
by Bruce Springsteen

Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
Until you spend half your life just covering up

Born in the U.S.A., I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A., born in the U.S.A.

Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man

Born in the U.S.A. . . .

Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man said, "Son if it was up to me"
Went down to see my V.A. man
He said, "Son, don't you understand"

I had a brother at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone

He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms now

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go

Born in the U.S.A., I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A., I'm a long gone daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A., born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A., I'm a cool rocking daddy in the U.S.A.

Split Pea/ce: rare video of Cleveland's lyrical poetry revolution

Mike Marcellino and Abe Alvido as Split Pea/ce

(Video by John Burroughs)

Split Pea/ce rips poetry, electric guitar 
at  legendary Mac's Backs on Coventry


This is a rare, maybe the only known video recording of poet Mike Marcellino and guitarist Abe Olvido performing their lyrical poetry music.  Thanks to fellow poet and friend John Burroughs for being at the show and recording this video.


This show with Marcellino and multi-media artist Olvido as the band, Split Pea/ce, was recorded at the legendary Mac's Backs Bookstore on Coventry in Cleveland Heights, Ohio on October 8, 2008.  That was the year Mike started his musical poetry adventures after showing Abe one of his poems earlier that year.  He's not sure which one started it all.


In this video Split Pea/ce performs several of Mike's early songs: been down ta Las Cruces, Asterisks after innocence, Full moon Baltimore and West of the Pecos. 


In case you're not familiar, Coventry Village in Cleveland is a miniature Midwest version of Greenwich Village in New York City or Haight Ashbury in San Francisco - places where the Sixties still survives in spots.  Also, in case you wonder, looking at this rare video, Abe rarely faced the audience while creating his music.  


Mike now knows why he left the snows of Cleveland for the surf of St. Augustine as he looks rather peaked at the Mac's Backs show. His hair and beard are mostly blond now bleached by the tropical sun, salt spray and lemon juice.

Split Pea/ce performed many times in Cleveland in 2008 and 2009 from the East Side to the West Side and South.

The band's home base was the legendary Barking Spider Tavern on the campus of Case Western Reserve University, just down the road from Algebra Tea House on the old red brick Murray Hill Road in Little Italy where Mike and Abe met. 

Mike reads his poetry songs at International Human Rights Day in Cleveland as renowned reggae musician Carlos Jones jumps off stage.  (Photo by The Plain Dealer)

Some of the classic performances of Split Pea/ce included The Battle of the Bands at Peabody's where the crowds of teens and twenty somethings went wild, jumping up on stage and asking Mike to sign copies of his rip and read lyrics on perforated rolls of computer printing paper.

Split Pea/ce performs at Visible Voice Books in Cleveland

Mike Marcellino with noted poet and musician Ray McNiece at the Barking Spider Tavern

While Mike did talk with record company scouts, Split Pea/ce wasn't signed to a label. Another of the band's memorable shows was at Visible Voice Books in the Tremont neighborhood, just across the Cuyahoga River from downtown.

In September of 2009 Mike left Cleveland to bring his lyrical poetry to the cafes, art galleries and festivals of New York City from the Lower East Side to Greenwich Village and Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Now he surfs the beaches of St. Augustine, America's oldest city.  Mike performs and records with musicians Tomas Texino in St. Augustine, Florida and Randall Leddy in New York City.  

In the fall of 2010 to help promote his New York City shows, Mike and Texino produced a 6-song CD "Notebook Writer."  A few copies remain and can be had for a price.  Just comment on this bog if you're interested in this classic album. 

Mike Marcellino on ReverbNation

Mike Marcellino as Split Pea/ce on MySpace

Check back as Mike's out looking for the lyrics to these four songs to post up. 

A photo story of the largest march on Washington

1969
story and photos by Mike Marcellino


It was the fall of 1969 and I had a Dodge Coronet 500, light blue, or aqua, and a Hurst five speed and already dropped a clutch.


While the newspaper, The Painesville (Ohio) Telegraph, the oldest newspaper in the Western Reserve, east of Cleveland, didn't assign me, I volunteered to cover the march against the Vietnam War in Washington. D. C. on Saturday, November 15, 1969.  Hey, after all I had volunteered to cover the war itself for the United States Army.  I had only been back from Vietnam for a little more than a year and the first six moths I drove from one corner of the country to the other in my Coronet 500 with an Indian-Chinese girl I had married in Singapore.  The trunk was full.  I had a lot of vinyl. I was trying to unwind and land in some town as a newspaper reporter.  I'll never forget an editor of a California paper telling me he couldn't hire me because I hadn't covered politics.  Yea, I just covered a war.


Now, this being a piece I am blogging, I decided music would be appropriate at this time. So, rather randomly, I'm listening to Cat Stevens' "Wild World (1970)." He's well known for his conversion to Islam to become Yusuf Islam, but the British singer songwriter was born Steven Demetre Georgiou, 21 July 1948. He had a Greek-Cypriot father and a Swedish mother.


So, here's "Wild World" by Yusuf Islam. Cat Stevens is back so to speak and the world goes on.

The tires on my Coronet 500 were bald and we decided to make the trip to D. C. at the last minute to do a photo feature story for the weekend magazine, "Telegraphic."  We (photographer Dennis Gordon and I) ran into a blizzard on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and all I remember is endless seas of fluffy white lit by my headlights and the windshield wipers going back and forth.  This wicked snowstorm reminded me of how the Huey helicopter pilots described night flying on their "Firely" missions to stop the VC from infiltrating troops and supplies into the Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam.  (The last of the U. S. troops pulled out in 1973 and South Vietnam fell to an invasion of the North Vietnamese army two years later.)  


All I could think of was the bald tires and staying on the road winding through the Allegheny Mountains.  We got into D. C. at 4 o'clock in the morning.  I pulled over on the side of the road somewhere.  It was pitch dark and nothing was moving.  We woke up a few hours later to the banging of police billy clubs on fenders of my Coronet 500.  I don't remember where we put the car, just somewhere away from the Capital.  

It was crystal clear but cold, in the 30s, but by the end of he day it was bitter.  The day turned out to be historic in a number of ways.  An estimated 600,000 people marched and filled The Mall between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument.  And, other than some teargassing of demonstrators later in the day at DuPont Circle, the day was peaceful.  It was the largest march on Washington in our nation's history.  


Can you imagine waiving the Taliban flag and marching on Washington today? Or, maybe a flag of peace in a neutral color would work.  Those flags of a different color today may be the Arab Spring and Occupy and other such protests around the world. People want their rights and they don't want wars.

I'll never forget at the end of the day, looking at the courtyard in the Department of Justice complex filled with tanks and troops.  I'll let these photos, first published on November 21, 1969 tell the rest of the story.  The image of the Viet Cong flag framing the U. S. Capital building seems to tell the story of our nation's longest war.  

A few weeks before the march on Washington The Beatles released "Come Together."  Well, people did though it took some years but finally they ended the bloody war.


Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare


- The Maha Mantra

A lyrical poetry song and mystery of Amelia Earhart's disapearance

A photo of American aviator Amelia Earhart in a biography 

I discovered at the International Women's Air and Space Museum in Cleveland.

Landing gear may be key to mystery of Amelia's disappearance

Investigators think they've uncovered a key clue that will lead them to solve the mystery of what happened to legendary aviator Amelia Earhart, who disappeared on a trans-Pacific flight 75 years ago. 


Ric Gillespie, executive director of The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), said a new enhanced analysis of a photo taken on the Pacific atoll of Nikumaroro, formerly Gardner Island, three months after Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared, may show the landing gear of her Lockheed Electra protruding from a reef.

Watch a CNN video report and story from March 20, 2012 on this link:

CNN story on Amelia Earhart mystery

Aviator and poet Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra, the plane she was flying when she was lost in her attempt to be the first pilot to fly around the world

(Note: This article was originally published at the time of the release of the film, "Amelia" in October 2009.  Since then, Mike Marcellino has risen to #31 Top Folk Artists, New York City chart, ReverbNation.)  

You're invited to listen to "Amelia Earhart, soft silver wings" written by Mike Marcellino with Mike on vocal, Tom Mechling on mandolin and David Dowling on guitar. The song was recorded in St. Augustine, Florida.

In the week since the song's release Mike Marcellino has hit No. 133 on Reverbnation's Folk Chart for New York City.

Here's the link to listen -

www.reverbnation.com/mikemarcellino

Here's a clip from the new film, "Amelia" starring Hilary Swank

Mike was inspired to write the song after a visit to the International Women's Air and Space Museum at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, Ohio.  He admires the courage of the pioneering female aviator.  Ms. Earhart's plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean as she attempted to by the first woman to fly around the world in 1937.

Clip of Hilary Swank, starring in "Amelia" opening tomorrow

Amelia Earhart, soft silver wings

By Mike Marcellino

Amelia Earhart,

Love your picture

in flight.

love your goggles,

love your lips. 

Love how you circled the world,

single handed.

Amelia

amelia

amelia

Like that leather

air cap.

You’re a goddess, a woman

soft white,

ahead of your time,

such afterglow

night

in shinning armor.

Meet me on a northern coast,

not far from the equator,

above the island

where they made King Kong.

You’re Atlantis, risen

in my South China Sea.

Amelia

amelia

amelia

Oh, your last flight

Oh, your last flight,

what a night

Looking at your picture

in my book,

soft silver

soft silver

wings.

Your lips, painted colors

light, pretty pink.

Those eyes,

imagine,

sigh.

Your nails, natural,

fingertips.

taking you with me.

Amelia

amelia

amelia,

soft silver

soft silver

wings.

Your words,

Courage

Courage is the price that Life extracts for granting peace.

The soul that knows it not, knows no release.

From little things.

Knows not the livid loneliness of fear.

Not mountain heights where bitter joy can hear

The sound of wings.

How can life grant us boon of living, compensate

For dull grey ugliness and pregnant hate

Unless we dare

The soul’s dominion? Each time we make a choice, we pay

With courage to behold the restless day,

And count it fair. - Amelia Earhart, 1927

You made the crossing

not alone.

Meet you over the Atlantic.

Amelia

amelia

amelia,

Soft silver,

soft silver wings.

Copyright 2009 by Mike Marcellino, “Amelia Earhart, soft silver wings”