Original song

Homage: End

jp — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 18:36:40 +0000

Farewell, Parisian streets,
The gare Saint-Lazare and Cour de Rome!
I had a little wander, in style after style,
But now I’ve found my way home.

My writing hand grows slow
For I started long ago,
And it just remains for me to declare
Merci! to Raymond Queneau.

Homage: Middle

jp — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 11:41:43 +0000

Picture the rush-hour S bus,
That chap, with the long neck and felt hat,
The way he thought that everyone would tread on him,
And the speed with which he sat.

Now see, much later, when,
With a friend he walks; and then
Let’s repeat these scenes in different modes,
Over and over again.

Homage: Beginning

jp — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 17:48:56 +0000

Show me the way it might start:
A writer imagines the banal—
Two chance encounters with some chap, two hours apart—
Now he’s in the story’s thrall!

He sets himself a trial
That will test his strength and guile:
Tell the same tale in some 99 ways;
That’s Exercises in Style!

War and Peace

jp — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 17:30:00 +0000

Show me Napoleon’s war
As seen by the Muscovite elite.
As Bezukhov’s good luck turns sour, Bolkonsky flees
Austerlitz and grim defeat.

Through marriage, death and birth,
Trudging over frozen earth,
These aristocrats will come to enquire:
What was this bloody war worth?

On the Road

jp — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 17:30:00 +0000

“Show me to write, man!” said Dean,
But: “let’s see America!” he meant.
We drove as far as San Francisco; Dean cleared out
Leaving us without a cent.

Camille and Marylou,
And Inez he married, too.
Though we’ll never ride together again,
Dean, I still think about you.

Heart of Darkness

jp — Sun, 29 May 2011 16:34:09 +0000

Take me upriver, to Kurtz:
I’ll find him, and help him, without fail.
We make our way past severed heads; then, look: it’s him!
On a stretcher, deathly pale.

I can’t leave him behind:
Though he’s found, he’s lost his mind;
If you stray beyond the ambit of sense,
Horror! is all you will find.

Lord of the Rings

jp — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 20:22:23 +0000

Show me the way to Mordor!
I’m tired as I’m carrying the ring.
I left the Fellowship with Sam a while ago,
And now Gollum’s following.

Meanwhile, there’s bloody war
In Helm’s Deep and Pelennor.
When the ship arrives for us, then I’ll know:
I’ll see the Shire nevermore.

Ulysses

jp — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 07:15:52 +0000

Stephen and Leopold wake,
Then set off round Dublin, both on foot.
All day they wander, meet, then wander off again,
Till the young man gets half-cut.

In Nighttown, in distress,
Stephen’s helped by Bloom, no less;
Still, they’re home in time for Molly to dream:
“yes I said yes I will Yes.”

Moby Dick

jp — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 17:07:47 +0000

Call him Ishmael; and set out
A-whaling on board the old Pequod
Till Ahab’s dark obsession takes over the crew
And they’re all cursed too, by God.

Though weaker hearts might quail,
Starbuck, Queequeg and Ishmael
Are bewitched by Ahab’s constant refrain:
“Catch me that monstrous white whale!”

Odyssey

jp — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 19:47:07 +0000

Set sail for Ithaca’s shores,
And leave burning Ilium behind.
Resist the songs of sirens and the lotus flowers,
And then strike the Cyclops blind.

Though Scylla and Circe
Try to seize, enchant or slay,
By Minerva’s grace shall Ulysses reach
Home, son and Penelope!