Poetry

516

Description:
+Steven Curtis Lance has created this book as an offering of love to his muse, Silke, or, as he calls her, "Silke Shining in the Sky." Within the graceful covers of this beautifully presented Expanded Edition of his magnum opus, the respected BrainMeta.com Poet in Residence offers most of his well-known and highly-acclaimed Transcendental Sonnets, as well as many other poems in many other forms, comprising the work of the past two years, as a labor of love for the one he loves. Here we witness the triumphal advent of +Steven Curtis Lance; after a lifetime of writing poetry and composing classical music, after twenty-five years as a distinguished member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers as both author and composer, after publishing one hundred and thirty choral motets (among many other things), after suffering much, living much, learning much, and loving much, +Steven Curtis Lance now announces himself to the world, with his hand to the plough and no turning back, as a POET.

Cover art by Dr. Silke Lance

(516 pages)

+Steven Curtis Lance ASCAP

+Steven Curtis Lance was born on New Year's Eve, 1954, and is a lifelong resident of Orange, California. He has been a dual member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, as both composer and author, since 1980. He has composed and published 130 choral motets with all the principal music publishers of the United States, and is well-known and respected in the field of choral music. He has also been publishing poetry since he was fifteen years old, and considers himself to be above all, first and last, a poet. He has won many awards and honors along the way, but all he really cares about is doing his best, as exemplified by his lifelong personal motto: "The highest, the purest, the noblest and the best." Steven is profoundly in love with Silke, the great love of his life who embodies everything for which he has striven, who joined him in taking the Lance name at Passover, 2004. Steven has three children, Maria, 21, Steven Jr., 19, and Teddy, 14, from a previous marriage. He lives with his cat, Freddie Noodles, in Studio Lance, a 1908 redwood frame house listed in the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior, which has been his lifelong home, purchased by his grandmother in 1943. He drives the 1965 Chrysler Newport which he picked out for his grandparents back when it was new. Steven serves as Poet in Residence at BrainMeta.com, and loves to encourage and help younger poets and composers in any way possible. He is something of a legend in Old Towne Orange, especially among the young. He never really grew up all the way, and spends his days writing his elegantly-formed and highly-mannered sonnets in a manner which could only be described as obsessive. ***Warning: Lance sonnets have been known to become extremely habit-forming; there is something in their perfectionistic yet easy formal balance which has been shown to be highly addictive in many cases.***


Email: stevelance.earthlink.net
Web Site: brainmeta.com/poemdirectory/stevelance/comment.php
Telephone: (714) 289-2892
Address: Studio Lance
145 N. Cleveland St.
Orange, California 92866-1624
United States                               

Excerpt
Transcendental Sonnet #218:
What Makes Me Happy

Nothing could make me happier than to
Bring a smile to your lips than to make you
Laugh just to forget for a moment all
The pain to make a difference if small
To make you happy means the world to me
And loving you is what makes me happy

My most magnificent magical Maus
In the middle of the night all alone
You make me dizzy I dance round the house
Whenever I talk to you on the phone

Your sweet and fragile body is holy is pure
You bear within yourself all I believe is true
Should anything be wrong with me you are the cure
As you are good for me I would be good for you

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #231:
Ocular Perspective

In the perspective of my earthen-brown eyes

I know one can step on the face of the moon
And that the clouds can be riddled by radar
I know one can touch their face from a balloon
Up close in a rocket see how the stars are
But I will not go up there anytime soon
I will love my moon my clouds my wishing star
By snuggling with Silke wrapped warmly in love
Her heavenly body beneath yet above
Anything in heaven to her I shall rise
Embracing this earth I ascend to those skies
Which ever have beckoned and shone there for me
In this kiss I kiss the face of destiny

In the perspective of her heaven-blue eyes

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #234:
Butterfly

O butterfly how beautiful you are
How kind how generous your love for me
Shining in the sky my little blue star
Most beautiful creature ever to be
And you most fragile fair one are my own
I feel your presence when I am alone

I can hear you calling me in the night
I feel you in the beating of my heart
I can see you rising in the dawn's light
Impossible for us to be apart
For we have grown together into one
My beautiful beloved butterfly
Magnificent this magic now begun
Which joins us in ecstasy... you and I

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #252:
Things Which Never Were

In Memoriam Patricia Lance, November 23rd

My family growing up was a lie
And then when I was married another
Those lies are over now they have passed by
But I cannot forget how my mother
Knew she was doomed that life was meaningless
Had ended for her with no hope unless
Her only child her son and that is me
Would be foolish enough to fight with fate
Be mad enough to wrestle destiny
And she knew that the hour was very late

My mother said it was over for her
I said it was not but I knew it was
I want to amount to something because
Of my mother and things which never were

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #254:
My Second Birth

Now my strange life has brought me to a place
Wherein I now begin a second time
A pregnant potential and state of grace

But perception pattern and paradigm
Are distorted by the dark of despair
Just out of sight but never out of mind
Deceiving me and always lurking where
It blocks the sunlight and renders me blind

Although Silke is far away from me
I have to know she loves me think of her
And let go of my fear of what might be
And grieve no more for things which never were

I am the most fortunate man on earth
In Silke I embrace my second birth

- - -

The Speed Lady Song
A True Tale of the Boarder from the Border of Hell

Fattest tweaker I have ever known
Chubbiest I've ever seen
I always thought they were mere skin and bone
On the crystal methamphetamine

Tweak

Tweak

And then she starts to speak
And there's never a moment's peace
Just when she seems fine
Then she'll start in on the wine
And her furies never cease

Oh when the Speed Lady's in my house
I feel like a cornered mouse
Oh what I put up with for four hundred bucks
Her untreated paranoia raging Goddamns and fucks

How it fills my life with grief
And it also turns out she's a thief
When she jumps into my bed
How I wish that I were dead
When the Speed Lady's in my house

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #263:
For Silke on Thanksgiving

My beautiful beautiful baby-girl
Sweet Silke do you know how much I care
For you? Come triumph over me unfurl
Your banner over me of love your hair
Enveloping us both may it surround us
There is nothing in my universe but you

Let the power of perfect love astound us
There is ever only always just we two
One soul created and now reunited
The turning at the still point is the dance
The yearning of the yin and yang requited
From now on you will bear the name of Lance

I am so thankful you have come into my life
My beautiful beautiful baby-girl... my wife

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #266:
To Make You Free

Silke a thousand kisses now I send
Transported through the upper atmosphere
Flowers of my love floating on the wind
From my lips to yours all the way from here
Where I keep vigil all night long for you
Where my love shines a candle in my heart
Where I stand faithful and steadfast and true
Where you and I are nevermore apart

My magic Silke blooming in the night
Now you will never be alone again
I come to liberate you from your pain
To carry you into a future bright
With happiness with possibility
To take away your tears to make you free

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #260:
No Happy Holidays

One two three despair is driving me
Four five six across the river Styx
Seven eight nine I need to drink more wine
The holidays are coming and in tow
Depression follows dragging me below
I feel like Don Giovanni at the end
The holidays are hell for me my friend

Deep holiday depression is the way
I celebrate each high and holy day
When other people speak of memories
I say I'd rather not remember please
If you want memories take some of these
Which torment me like nightmare scenes always
For me there are no happy holidays

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #255:
In the Dark of the Moon

The wind is howling like a banshee now
The moon is gone it has been blown away
The stars are scrubbed and shining now and how
Can it be that all this glory today
Goes unappreciated by those who
Presume to own the heavens and but do
Violence destruction degradation
(These fathers of my alienation)
To everything which means something to me?

God stay your hands you greedy grasping men
How dare you deny me my destiny?

But I will laugh last as you fall and then
May justice speak and clearly let it be
Made manifest you were no match for me

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #251:
Into the Future Out Of the Past

Today the nightmare of my life has ended
I am still in shock nor does it yet seem real
Externally my broken life is mended
Two hundred thousand dollars to seal the deal
To make my lifelong abuser go away
A lifetime of hell and two years to the day
Since I first began this struggle to be free

I will never know how I made it this long
Except for sixteen months she has been with me
Drawing closer every day to keep me strong
I wish that I had known Silke long ago
But now we are together and now at last
I can go and see the woman I love so
Much... fly into the future out of the past

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #227:
Survivors

Sweet Silke I would give you everything
Such things as the rich could never afford
Those needful things which only love could bring
Are measured not by carat but by word

Cannot be traded only given free
I could be wrong but my heart tells me so
Within my spirit I feel that I know
These things were meant to come to you through me

You need to be a little girl again
Just as I need to be a little boy
Sometimes and from this moment only joy
Will be ours the pleasure without the pain

Love redeems our childhoods lost... suffered... cried
Our paradise deferred but not denied

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #261:
A Long Night's Journey into Day

The very best Christmas ever for me
Would be for me to be with Silke she
Alone could make it magical again
As I have dreamed it as it's never been
As I have always known that it could be
For other people maybe not for me

My attorney says I have the money
To hop a plane and visit my honey
But I've never been anywhere before
I can hardly get past my own front door
I have to go and get a passport
The time has come for me to fahre fort!

The prettiest girl I have ever known
Is waiting for me and she is alone

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #267:
The Sky's the Limit

We're going to be all right you and me
The future is looking bright you will see
Us cutting a wide swath here pretty soon
The sky's the limit the stars and the moon
Belong to the lovers to you and me
Surfers on the waves of destiny we
Happy few we two Silke me and you

Our life is getting better all the time
Our love is growing sweeter day by day
I mean to fill big thick books up with rhyme
About my baby-girl as if to say
This is the sweetest Maus I've ever known
An angel mermaid fairy all my own
Who sparkled my unhappiness away

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #273:
Par Avion Prioritaire

Some presents came for me from you today
Silke there was love today in the post
Encouragement carried from far away
From your beautiful heart my heart loves most

Some hope arrived for me from you and this
Is what I live for makes my life worthwhile
You packed and packaged up your tender kiss
And also sent and shipped your loving smile
These both arrived undamaged shining bright
Upon arrival blessing me with light

The very stuff of life sent and received
Luftpost par avion prioritaire
A miracle though not seen yet believed
We are no matter what no matter where

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #278:
Time Well-Spent

My sonnets are created out of pain
The one thing Silke which we've plenty of
To write a thousand then begin again
Is to my heart but token of my love

But pain subsides nor can I feel at all
Except as background or behind the scene
When we connect no matter short nor small
A time we share (but you know what I mean)

The merest words exchanged from you to me
And all the silly things I say to you
Suffice to make us feel better more free
Out of a world of lies we find what's true

An hour spent together's time well-spent
As we each other's suicide prevent

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #287:
No More Depression! I Have Been Shopping!

No more depression! I have been shopping!
I think I am ready for Sweden now
As I bought coats depression was dropping
From my shoulders as if it didn't fit

When you see my brass-buttoned full-length... wow!
I've turned off the heat so I can wear it
Here inside my warm California house
I simply cannot wait to show my Maus!

With brass and wool and lots of black leather
Accents to boot (I got carried away)
I'm ready for any sort of weather
I just wish that it were colder today

My depression's lifted and I'm good to go
To see my Silke Mausi... so let it snow!

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #289:
To Poetry I Pledge Myself

Why didn't I just do this in the first place?
From the earliest possible age I knew
That to be a poet was what I should do
Why couldn't life afford me common-sense grace
Sufficient to keep me to my fated task?
I know there are no answers yet I still ask

And all the things I learned all the things I did
Were avoiding like Jonah my Nineveh
They only delayed but could never get rid
Of my destiny predestined anyway

Thus now at the curtain of my second act
To poetry I pledge myself live or die
Better late than never I embrace the fact
That even if I fail I was born to try

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #305:
Outside Your Heart's Door

My goddess spun of gossamer and fire
My butterfly who lives upon the air
Embodying my longing my desire
My fantasy most fragile and most fair
The world can never understand how you
Can live nor I but celebrate you do

I love you live for you and keep your flame
Of faithfulness within my heart my soul
Enshrined there is your image is the name
Of Silke of the one who makes me whole

You shiver in the cold now thin and small
You feel alone but are alone no more
Brightest and best and fairest of them all
I knock and wait here outside your heart's door

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #307:
The Santa Ana Wind

Oh how could I ever begin to explain
The Santa Ana wind? The pleasure the pain
Of this ancient obsessive-compulsive force
Which while my legacy my birthright of course
Still beckons with a midnight lover's longing
Awakening deep roots of my belonging?

With nothing to do with the United States
This is the ancient breath of Indian fates

I wrap myself like a tamale within
Some long-dead Swedish sailor's navy blue skin
And venture out into a night prefigured
In ancient cave-paintings a night transfigured
Where stars ache and the moon shines impossibly
And all these wonders rush down inside of me

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #355:
Felt Within Our Flesh Tonight

Our star is blanketed enfolded and embraced
Into the loving bosom of the timeless night
I sought it earnestly just now but where I faced
Our star which shines for you for Sander and for me
Just moments earlier and wrote of it I see
Our little light caressed now by a greater light

Our tears have fallen into the great wide ocean
And a little stream exhausted from the journey
Coming home now for the first time in devotion
Is embraced by the infinite in ecstasy

Silke it is not by accident not by chance
That tears which fall from lonely eyes are like the sea
The patterns and the rhythms of the cosmic dance
Are felt within our flesh tonight are you and me

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #368:
It Fits!

Let all the sea-cows in the sea
And all the road-hogs on the road
Commence a great cacophony
As praise is paid where praise is owed
A vast eccentric anthem swell

Let traveling toucans fill the trees
And flap their wings clap wildly and well
Lift colorful beaks up to the breeze
To squawk enthusastically
And why do they squawk? And what the hell?

For Silke's birthday! Because she loves me!

This sonnet is quite cuckoo (one admits)
But above below sane and mad should know:
I've found the missing puzzle-piece! It fits!

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #455:
What the Flying Pig Said

A flying pig up in the sky
Flew low and spoke to me
He hovered like a hummingbird
And spoke eloquently:

Make every word tell every word
The best which it can be
And you will be before you die
A poet of first rank

Of whom your Silke may be proud
And your depressions dank
Which isolate you from the crowd
Will melt away like snow

When comes the spring and may life bring
The peace which you have wanted so

- - -

Transcendental Sonnet #632:
Poets

Poets make words take wing and fly but why?
We can we do we must yet still we die
But every day we save the world this way

I only do this only come to say
Look up and see the sun smile above you
And feel this warming kiss upon your skin

I only want to tell you I love you
To invite you to watch the dance begin
As the moon embraces the clouds tonight

The world is singing right before our eyes
A play of shadow of darkness and light
Of waxing waning morning noon and night
Of that which is born and of that which dies

Poets sing giving voice to everything

- - -

My Mermaid Friend

(An Allegory, for Silke)

My mermaid friend can breathe the air
But not for very long
Blue eyes begin to dart despair
And small becomes her song

I visit her down by the shore
She meets me there halfway
But then she goes to sea once more
To come another day

My mermaid friend is beautiful
And wondrous to behold
Solicitous and dutiful
With hair of purest gold

We share about the sea and land
She sings her mermaid lays
So strange and yet I understand
And magic are her ways

My mermaid friend is strong to swim
In tail beneath the sea
Her human part is frail and slim
Marked by fragility

Of all her charms I love the best
This delicacy fair
And count the ribs in her small chest
As she takes in the air

My mermaid friend tends to remain
From her sea bed away
Too long and our world gives her pain
Such that she cannot stay

She turns quite blue out in the sun
And I feel sorry then
To see an end come to our fun
So lovely it has been

My mermaid friend has suffered much
From octopus and shark
She has been hurt and frightened such
That now she fears the dark

But if I went beneath the sea
And came up oft for air
I think that I could happily
Make her feel safe down there

My mermaid friend is strong though she
Is pale and thin and small
I think my mermaid friend could be
The strongest of us all

May mermaids marry I know not
But if they could I would
Take up with this one who knows what
Is true and right and good

My mermaid friend makes life worthwhile
She means the world to me
If I can make a mermaid smile
That is enough for me

- - -

+Steven Curtis Lance

Copyright MMIV Silke LLC