Poetry

Didn't know where to put this, and I always like showing off hehe

Comment, please

Pop the Hollow Bone

Pop the hollow bone
with a chisel of ancient stone
breath sweet radiation
emitting off lucid dreams
smoke the ash of men
while your soul screams

What is the color of my skin?
raped to perfection in metal tin
swallowing shadows by candlelight
I've felt doom through pierced veins
my name has been carved on tombstones
dancing with death never gets old

Barefoot I run across a field of needles
bleeding toxic love into the blue sky
screaming blasphemy into my hallucinating mind
It's madness in a hundred forms
touching this death never felt so good

(poem about drug addiction)

Death Games

Death games are played
when we all decide
to go insane
Huffing satan's breath
wrapped in ivory tongues
to swallow whole
our liquid lungs

Naked we swim in molten steel
orgasms in the warmth
voices fade to grey
as we burn the truth
drifting into oblivion
we play with God's angels
and teach them how to fly
Above a world ignited by lies

Walking toward the edge of chaos
we've landed in a dry sea
to death above us
and life below us
on corpses we lay
and stare at the sun
until our eyes go numb
until our lives are done

(poem about marijuana prohibition and the ignorant people that support it)

(found this searching the fourms and made these poems in 2005 when I was 17)
 
For a comedic treat, I posted here Lord Byron's "Lines Inscribed Upon a Cup Formed From a Skull." I think most people here will find it witty and delightful. :cool:

Start not—nor deem my spirit fled:
In me behold the only skull
From which, unlike a living head,
Whatever flows is never dull.

I lived, I loved, I quaffed like thee;
I died: let earth my bones resign:
Fill up—thou canst not injure me;
The worm hath fouler lips than thine.

Better to hold the sparkling grape
Than nurse the earthworm's slimy brood,
And circle in the goblet's shape
The drink of gods than reptile's food.

Where once my wit, perchance, hath shone,
In aid of others' let me shine;
And when, alas! our brains are gone,
What nobler substitute than wine?

Quaff while thou canst; another race,
When thou and thine like me are sped,
May rescue thee from earth's embrace,
And rhyme and revel with the dead.

Why not—since through life's little day
Our heads such sad effects produce?
Redeemed from worms and wasting clay,
This chance is theirs to be of use.

Byron only...

Only Byron...
 
Amy Levy - A Ballad of Religion and Marriage

Swept into limbo is the host
Of heavenly angels, row on row;
The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Pale and defeated, rise and go.
The great Jehovah is laid low,
Vanished his burning bush and rod—
Say, are we doomed to deeper woe?
Shall marriage go the way of God?

Monogamous, still at our post,
Reluctantly we undergo
Domestic round of boiled and roast,
Yet deem the whole proceeding slow.
Daily the secret murmurs grow;
We are no more content to plod
Along the beaten paths—and so
Marriage must go the way of God.

Soon, before all men, each shall toast
The seven strings unto his bow,
Like beacon fires along the coast,
The flame of love shall glance and glow.
Nor let nor hindrance man shall know,
From natal bath to funeral sod;
Perennial shall his pleasures flow
When marriage goes the way of God.

Grant, in a million years at most,
Folk shall be neither pairs nor odd—
Alas! we sha'n't be there to boast
"Marriage has gone the way of God!"
 
That's awesome. I love it when poets can stick within a metrical pattern as strict as that of the ballad and yet still compose a work of imaginative, intelligent, creative poetry.

One of my favorite Victorian poets, who gets overlooked often, is William Ernest Henley. Most people know him for his poem commonly called "Invictus" (although Henley didn't coin it that). Here's one of my favorite pieces that he wrote. A bit morbid, but still funny:

"Madam Life's a Piece in Bloom"

Madam Life's a piece in bloom
Death goes dogging everywhere:
She's the tenant of the room,
He's the ruffian on the stair.

You shall see her as a friend,
You shall bilk him once or twice;
But he'll trap you in the end,
And he'll stick you for her price.

With his kneebones at your chest,
And his knuckles in your throat,
You would reason -- plead -- protest!
Clutching at her petticoat;

But she's heard it all before,
Well she knows you've had your fun,
Gingerly she gains the door,
And your little job is done.
 
Dodens Grav said:
Amy Levy - A Ballad of Religion and Marriage

Swept into limbo is the host
Of heavenly angels, row on row;
The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Pale and defeated, rise and go.
The great Jehovah is laid low,
Vanished his burning bush and rod—
Say, are we doomed to deeper woe?
Shall marriage go the way of God?

Monogamous, still at our post,
Reluctantly we undergo
Domestic round of boiled and roast,
Yet deem the whole proceeding slow.
Daily the secret murmurs grow;
We are no more content to plod
Along the beaten paths—and so
Marriage must go the way of God.

Soon, before all men, each shall toast
The seven strings unto his bow,
Like beacon fires along the coast,
The flame of love shall glance and glow.
Nor let nor hindrance man shall know,
From natal bath to funeral sod;
Perennial shall his pleasures flow
When marriage goes the way of God.

Grant, in a million years at most,
Folk shall be neither pairs nor odd—
Alas! we sha'n't be there to boast
"Marriage has gone the way of God!"
Click to expand...

What a slut.
 
allllllllright,

Since I am writing all the music for my music at the moment, I also must write the lyrics.

So, I dont know how to write lyrics really. At the moment Radioheads lyrics are very inspiring to me, but I am wondering what exactly he does to create them. Is it just as simple as finding a simple topic like Sadness for example and finding metaphors to explain that feeling?

help me out!
 
I'm not sure how to explain it. :ill: You're asking a particularly hard question, firstly I can't really tell you how to express YOURself, secondly I haven't heard the song and wouldn't be able to give you any idea of a structural idea.. my band is akin to a heavy power metal with a little experimental tinge, you can hear it in the sig, but as such the lyrics I write usually are very much within 'traditional' ideas of verses and choruses and bridges...even if we sometimes mix and match where they are and how they are placed. I would maybe guess you are not near the same style so I am coming from a different place here.

A lot of people say they write a bunch of music and then put lyrics to it. Personally, I'm not really enthusiastic about that because it can put some chains on your lines that you don't want to be there if you want to be completely satisfied with your lyrical expression. I write the entire set of lyrics first, with RHYTHMICAL hooks/structure in mind, and MAYBE speeds..then I peer into the box of riffs and start tinkering with the intros, verses, et al, (vocal melodies may or may not be there already, but the FLOW is there) and that works extremely well for me so I continue doing it. It's important for me to be extremely precise and exact with phrases and even single words in themselves because I am passionate about lyrics and want my expression within that 'pop' contextual form of art to be as PERFECT as possible. The beauty of English is the variety and the enormous amount of grammar and synonym it's absorbed; you can change one word and you'll likely get a whole seperate vision than before. But again you may or may not be so particular, and to me it all depends what YOU see. If it doesn't make sense to you the way you want it to and say what you want the way you want it to, fix it until it does. If it's forced out or you make a compromise on it, don't include it. Here's two of mine in case it may help connect the dots any. The first song contains a small intro line I included at my leisure, two seperate bridge sections that occur before and after the solo/instrumental section, and an otherwise typical verse/pre-chorus/chorus structure. The second song adheres to the latter but abandons it in favor of a more cascading, progressive feel post-solo/instrumental section. Note that in the pre-chorus sections I take the opportunity to change up my lines within the same syllabic form; most of the songs I write do this, because it's an opportunity to say something new and round out your expression, it does not necessarily need to be repeated as the chorus does, and the chorus sometimes may not even need to be repeated verbatim.



'The Alchemist'


In death I rise!

I fight
To crush the phoenix,
To walk alone
To burn the bridges that bar my way

I live
To seek the truth and
Bring light upon it
I pray, be never led astray!

Seek and find, the way through the void
Break these astral chains
Now is time to conjure, destroy!
Magic, faith, and flames

Spellcraft
Light up the sky tonight
I've been praying, and
I've been singing, and
I've been waiting
For an answer
Spellbound
Look through the eyes of Christ
I've been searching, and
I have seen
I'm the last of my kind
I am the Alchemist

I think
Therefore I hunger
I hang inverted
I see this world through different sight

It seems
Decree alone will
Claim this Stone, so
Forsake the real, chase what is right

Seek and find, the way through the void
Break these astral chains
Reveal the signs, illusions destroyed
Under acid rain

Spellcraft
Light up the sky tonight
I've been praying, and
I've been singing, and
I've been waiting
For an answer
Spellbound
Look through the eyes of Christ
I've been searching, and
I have seen
I'm the last of my kind
I am the Alchemist

War and peace exists within me
The Elixir has been given to me
Pierce my flesh, now I fly
Into Orion's crystal eyes

Wisdom makes a deadly wraith
The truth shall crush your wretched faith

Spellcraft
Light up the sky tonight
I've been praying, and
I've been singing, and
I've been waiting
For an answer
Spellbound
Look through the eyes of Christ
I've been searching, and
I have seen
I'm the last of my kind
I am the Alchemist
---------------------------

'The Human Residue'


A weather weary face
Hollow, sunken eyes
Lips that cannot kiss
Diseased from deep inside

A worn, abandoned place
A fortress made of lies
How did it come to this
A man so horrified

They'll put themselves beside you
They'll brand themselves upon you
They'll see themselves unto you
Standing in line with lust in their eyes to possess you

With scar after scar
The things we choose to do
Please take me apart
From the human residue

Scar after scar
The things I couldn't do
I've ruined my heart
With human residue

A soul that's stretched and thin
A body filled with sin
The weakened voice within
Not again....no, not again

They'll put themselves inside you
They'll force themselves onto you
They'll make themselves to be you
Waiting in line with greed in their eyes to afflict you

With scar after scar
The things we choose to do
Please take me apart
From the human residue

Scar after scar
The things I couldn't do
I've ruined my heart
With human residue

I've thrown myself in misery
For the sake of normalcy
Move on, and on, and on and on
Feed the people's fallacy

The lake of flesh, the piercing burn
More filthy than it's dirt of birth
For all the bliss forgiveness is
It doesn't heal the pain on Earth

I can't hate more intense
We've impaled all continence
Objects draining objects
Collecting innocence

A regret is all I am
And regret is all I have
If I could turn back time
And do it all again

To touch
To know
To feel deep inside

To have
To love
To hold against the tide

To stave the thirst
To give so vast
To rule among, to share with none
To stay safe in a promise cast

To be the first
To be the last
To be the one, the past undone
To make love under stained glass

I cry
I die
I've cried a thousand times
I cry
I die
I've died a thousand times inside

Scar after scar after scar is all we do
Washing our spirits away with human residue
 
awesome thanks for the pointers, good lyrics as well.

but what I meant actually was;

take Radioheads lyrics for the song idioteque, (posted at the bottom of this message, what is he doing there? Are they simply metaphors for a very simple subject? also, about personal expression, I dont really know how to express myself in Poetry, because I didnt pay attention in English ,and I dropped out in grade 10. ( yes, fully my fault, but I am comfortable where I am in life without high school)basically, I guess I dont know where to start





Who's in a bunker?
Who's in a bunker?
Women and children first
And the children first
And the children
I'll laugh until my head comes off
I'll swallow till I burst
Until I burst
Until I

Who's in a bunker?
Who's in a bunker?
I have seen too much
You haven't seen enough
You haven't seen it
I'll laugh until my head comes off
Women and children first
And children first
And children

Here I'm allowed
Everything all of the time
Here I'm allowed
Everything all of the time

Ice age coming
Ice age coming
Let me hear both sides
Let me hear both sides
Let me hear both
Ice age coming
Ice age coming
Throw them in the fire
Throw them in the fire
Throw them in the

We're not scare mongering
This is really happening
Happening
We're not scare mongering
This is really happening
Happening
Mobiles quirking
Mobiles chirping
Take the money and run
Take the money and run
Take the money

Here I'm allowed (background: and first and the children x6)
Everything all of the time
Here I'm allowed
Everything all of the time

Here I'm allowed
Everything all of the time
Here I'm allowed
Everything all of the time

deaf and lost are the children (repeated)
 
hmm..

I have to say - from my perspective at least - it sort of looks like you are a little more anxious about doing things 'right' rather than doing things 'right for you'. Sure, there's some aspects of music and performance where a technical knowledge is a necessary foundation, but lyrics aren't really one of those things... aside from a good handle on grammar and a wide vocabulary at your disposal, it tends to be pretty subjective...and even then, things like the vocabulary..those are COMPLETELY in accordance to your needs........for example you may want to talk about a dark red lamp, but you may have ABSOLUTELY NO want or need to say 'burgundy', 'dark red' or 'reddish brown' may be just the ticket for you. I may need to say burgundy either because the syllables fit within my verse or because I feel the elegance of the word fits the atmosphere I want perfectly. Knowing more and more and more about English and writing in general surely has the potential to help you, but, barring things like grammar, nobody can sit around and tell you that your verse is technically incorrect if it's exactly what you meant. Unless it doesn't fit into some specific portion of music or what have you, of course.

So, if I were you, the place I would start is very basic - read and write. *Read* lyrics you like and read lyrics you dislike, and focus and study on lines and ways of speaking that stick out to you for whatever reason - what touches you the most in whatever way, listen to the song or read the booklet and really take note of what jumps out at you and speaks to you, because that gives you insight on part of what you are and that may help you 'speak back' the same language in your own writing. What can help you write it is to also *read* everything you see...you really have no idea how many words and ways of putting things that there are out there until you actually pay attention to the text everywhere you go. Then if you don't know what something means, go find it in the dictionary - and after you've done that, look up synonyms for it in the thesaurus. The thesaurus will absolutely be your best friend when you're missing that perfect word. Next, *write* things... you can try to create a little masterwork or you can just sketch things out..it doesn't matter.......... just write and review, write and review, write and review...and one thing that I believe will help you, in my opinion at least.... is jot down things that you wanna say. If you have something left unsaid with someone you know, go and literally put it into words and format it into the art of a song, whatever really feels right with what you play. Things you either don't express verbally, or have trouble expressing on a regular basis, or anything intense that comes up that is in anger or sadness or whatever it may be - basically, take things you are passionate about and set it in your mind that you're going to plant down a sign post there and have your own anthems and catharsis on those things. Whenever you have fire bursting forth and it has nowhere to go, WRITE IT DOWN. Then look at it and decide how it represents you, what will show who you are inside most effectively, what you feel most effectively, and timelessly? Did you throw in some profanities that will nail your piece to the ground somewhere other than where you intend, have you come off as immature? Did you use 'dark red' when 'burgundy' is how your mind's eye actually sees it or vice versa? And so on, and so on, and so on.....

Writing is important for me because it's really the most effective way I have at expressing myself. I have a motor mouth and a motor brain and there is a big clog in the cortex on a regular basis, which is not aided by the fact that I can often be extremely introverted and/or moody. The more you want to be understood, and get something off your chest, the more refined things will be once you take the first steps. In reference to what I said about going mostly with things YOU feel, know, and most importantly, are passionate about...it doesn't mean you can't also take the oft-borrowed idea in all branches of heavy metal where you create a piece based off a book, historical event, or etc. I'm just saying that 1. You can't learn how to express YOURself if all you do is express stuff that is already out there, 2. Your drive to succeed at it will work in synergy when you're dealing with something that is important and fragile to you as a subject, and 3. You want to be able to have a wide range of things you say. I love a lot of symphonic power metal, but how many songwriters within that take the time to include some really introspective songs on each album? Not many.

Re: the Radiohead song, I actually have to go out somewhere and can't really spend a lot of time giving it much analysis, but whatever it is, to ME it looks like it could be either 1. He's very purposefully constructing more of a challenge in the lyrics, focusing more on the reader/listener's potential reaction then his own expression, or 2. This is really the way his thoughts have moved concerning whatever the subject is, and even though it came out a little cryptic, it's PERFECT for him and says it more effectively than just being overly blunt. Personally, as I'm not a huge fan of the 'calculated progressiveness' some artists insist on having, I hope it's the latter.


Hopefully this helps more, give it a couple reads if it seems too long-winded, since I know I can be that way and not realize it, and thanks about the lyrics btw.
 
No one can be sure what the fuck Thom Yorke is doing when he writes lyrics. I think sometimes he doesn't even know what he's doing. Lyrics can convey equally powerful messages in multiple forms. There isn't really a "right" way to write, but there is a good and bad way, if that makes sense. Lyrics have to fit the music; it's all about aesthetics.

That Radiohead song you posted is very abstract. There isn't really any concrete plot to follow, it just kind of rambles along a common theme. Most of the songs/lyrics I write revolve around some kind of story, but that's just the way I write. It's extremely difficult to give someone pointers on how to write well.
 
Thanks OCi.That was very helpful;very helpful. ID give a longer reply, seeing as you gave such a large one, but yeah.The point about the red Lamb was great.I took all your advice, and sat down with a theme I had in my head for a while, and weird things came out. I feel alot better all of a sudden...weird...

also, Einherjer,

I think your spot on with thom's lyrics. Or it deffinately comes of that way on the surface.

so...if its hard to give advice on how to write well in general, how about some tips on writing abstract? :p nah joking really. I think I can see where to start and how to go about it.
 
idioteque is the centrepiece of radiohead's discography for me, it perfectly encapsulates the dislocation and confusion of the information age, if radiohead are about anything they're about staving off the tide of entropy with any tiny fragments of meaning they can find. that song is an elegy to meaning hummed out by ghosts into a sprawling abyss of meaningless noise, like all great postmodern tragedy its power comes from its insignificance, the absence of movement or drama; when you have everything all of the time and everything's a bustle all that's left to do is try to forge a few pockets of nothing.

that's why radiohead are so precious, 'cause they're one of very few (in the mainstream, certainly) bands to understand in the present time how to create such intense emotional power when everything's already been assimilated and thrown into quotes - and idioteque is their crowning triumph because like most great art it manages to glean catharsis from a vision of death, in a time when such catharsis is arguably harder than ever to find.
 
My translation and terza rima rendering of Aeneid VI.214-234. Part of my thesis project in which I'll render the whole of Book VI into Dante's meter/rhyme to demonstrate the Divina Commedia's debt to Vergil. I think I'm getting the rhythm by now.


Built first is a pyre of pine and oak lumber,
the sides of which veiled by dark vegetation,
and for its façade, wild cypress-tree timber.

Its peak is bedecked with weapons agleam.
Some ready hot fluids and lavas of bronze,
anoint the cold body and lather it clean.

Then wailing arises. A bier bears his corpse
enshrouded in purple, traditional cloaks.
By others a hearse great in size him supports.

By ancestral code, a ministry tearful,
averting their faces turned down in respect,
they blazed incense, oil, and meats sacrificial.

Collapsed into ashes the flames ceased to burn,
and wine cleansed the relics and thirsty embers.
The bones Corynaeus concealed in an urn.

He blessed all the men, with pure water sprinkling
so lightly with dew from an olive tree’s branch,
comrades consecrated the requiem sing.

Pious Aeneas builds a mausoleum,
a tomb for his trumpet, his oars and his arms,
beneath a tall mountain, still called Misenum.
 
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