Saturday, November 17, 2018

Open Mic – v2


Can you hear me in the back?
Let’s see –
A little about me
What would they want to know…

Set the mood, a light laugh line
Parse the group
Gauge the crowd
What they want to hear

How’s it going?
Thanks for the opportunity
To share, to speak
To be real, authentic

Shouldn’t listeners have to wear name tags
Expose a bit of soul too
Like those of us sharing
Under the hot lights…

Aren’t they though,
If you pay attention
to the fidget and the clap
Subtle and not so oblique silences

Hello? Hello!?
Is this thing on?

=====
edited November 17, 2018
Open Mic – v2

Posted August 23, 2004
Open Mic
August 18, 2004 22:03
&
edited December 15, 2015
Second-Rate Song Lyrics – v2
8/21/04 16:40 – Inspired by Adam
Second-Rate Song Lyrics

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 48,100 of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Adam, creator, Faith, faith poetry, God, hope, Methodist, New Hampshire, poem, poetry, Poetry Where You Live, praise poems, praise poetry, Raymond A. Foss,

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Post-Graduate – v2


What do we learn from the roads not taken,
of choices made without full exploration?
“What if”, and “where would I be”, if only…
but we cannot go back

I was a Writer at eighteen,
“He leaves to become the next John Steinbeck”
in the Senior Class Will…
But a different path taken

No post-graduate year,
Mr. Paquette’s idea,
of writing and study
exploring a different path

Full-time college instead,
because of Dad’s dread,
the struggle he endured
so many years of night school

Numbers, not words
tapped my precision,
though unconscious decision
simple path taken

Poet at forty, closing the circle
Reading and typing the Law
Leaves me in awe
at the power of words

The same power
That held me back then
and which I use now
to reach a different end.

================
edited November 17, 2018
Post-Graduate – v2

8/8/04 11:49
Post-Graduate

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 48,100 of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

God, John 1, Law, leaves, New Hampshire, path, poem, poetry, Poetry Where You Live, Raymond A. Foss, school, college, dreams, hope, untaken, writing, reading, novel, poet, writer,


#God #John #John1 #Law #leaves #NewHampshire #path #poem #poetry #school #college #dreams #hope #untaken #writing #reading #novel #poet #writer #calling

February Heat – v2


Broad smile in my soul
as parka was replaced
with a polo, white on white,
with greens and garish

A wall of heat
a blanket, a caress
for my thickened
Yankee blood.

Sweat down my back
stuck to the streetcar,
though not Desire
on St. Charles Street.

Canal and Decatur
and Bourbon again.
Memories rushed
back of earlier visits

Oh to stay, to linger
to wander the streets again
to lounge, to luxuriate,
to bask in the February heat.

========
edited November 17, 2018
February Heat – v2

8/7/04 18:11
February Heat
New Orleans
February 1996
when I interviewed at Tulane
&
November 16, 2018
Mood Indigo
May 1993
Mood Indigo
by Willie Humphrey
(93 years old in 1993)
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Preservation Hall
&
edited November 16, 2018
Nice Tie – v2
8/7/04 18:05
Nice Tie
partially non-verbal conversation with Richard Payne
of Preservation Hall Jazz Band
at Preservation Hall Jazz Band club
726 St. Peters Street
New Orleans, LA
He was the bass player for the band and
he was the bass player in
“Toots Sweet’s Band” in the movie
Angel Heart (1987).
I gave him my tie, right off my neck
(a tie I had bought from a pushcart at
Downtown Crossing in Boston).
&
edited April 27, 2015
Congo Square – v3
(editing version 2)
edited November 4, 2018
Amazing Grace – v3
(editing original again)
edited April 16, 2015
Amazing Grace – v2
July 12, 2004 18:56 –
Amazing Grace
Amazing Grace solo of Aaron Neville
at the 1993 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival
during a real wedding.
The members of Los Lobos were near me, watching as I was.
I saw the wedding couple riding in a carriage
in the French Quarter that night.
&
edited April 13, 2015
Congo Square – v2
July 12, 2004 19:15.
Congo Square
Congo Square, special area at the
1993 Jazz and Heritage Festival, New Orleans
&
Edited December 6, 2013
Night in New Orleans – v4
(editing original version)
Edited December 5, 2013
Night in New Orleans – v3
Edited September 20, 2012
“Night in New Orleans – v2”
Sunday, July 15, 2001 at 6:22:58 PM EST
edited December 6, 2001
“Night in New Orleans
mostly about trip to New Orleans for Jazz and Heritage Festival, 1993
and again for job interview at Tulane University 1996

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 48,090 of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

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==================
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#Africa #Congo #creator #God #July #music #poetry #jazz #NewOrleans #heritage @Jazznheritage
================
creator, God, jazz, July, music, New Orleans, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, poetry, Poetry Where You Live, Raymond A. Foss, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Richard Payne,

#creator #God #jazz #July #music #NewOrleans #NewOrleansJazzandHeritageFestival #poetry #PreservationHallJazzBand #RichardPayne #joy #gift
================
creator, God, jazz, July, music, New Orleans, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, poetry, Poetry Where You Live, Raymond A. Foss, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Willie Humphrey, Mood Indigo,

#creator #God #jazz #July #music #NewOrleans #NewOrleansJazzandHeritageFestival #poetry #PreservationHallJazzBand #WillieHumphrey #MoodIndigo
================
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#creator #God #jazz #music #NewOrleans #NewOrleansJazzandHeritageFestival #poetry #PreservationHallJazzBand #interview #Tulane #TulaneUniversity