Still Sing: Collected Poems 2017

By Carmine Giordano

Still Sing is a collection of poems viewing human beings as the cosmos become aware of itself. They celebrate the resilience of men and women in facing their solitary existence in the universe with courage, humor. and determination despite their physical, emotional. and intellectual limitations.

The author suggests that total and successful human communication is ultimately not possible, and that in the end, one is left with only aural and verbal symbols to express the profound mysteries of existence. He expresses his amazement that despite that handicap, we continue to sing!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984510235

Carmine Giordano

Carmine Giordano was born in Brooklyn, New York, and has an MA in English Literature from New York University and was a recipient of a Fulbright Award for Study in Italy. He is a retired teacher and assistant principal from the New York City Board of Education. He is also a nationally certified psychoanalyst and a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis (NAAP). He is an assistant editor of the online poetry magazine Abalone Moon and the author of six poetry collections: The Courage of Flowers, The Hero’s Journey, Still Sing, The Habit of Spring, Collected Poems 2020, and Saving Daylight. His poetry has appeared in The South Hampton Review, The River Poets Journal, Abalone Moon, Poets of the Palm Beaches Anthology, Perspectives, and Belletrist. Mr. Giordano has spent most of his life teaching writing and literature in New York, Georgia and Florida where he is an adjunct lecturer at Palm Beach State College and lives in happy retirement with his wife Ronnie.

Book preview

Copyright © 2018 by Carmine Giordano.

Library of Congress Control Number:     2018902262

ISBN:                Hardcover              978-1-9845-1025-9

                          Softcover                978-1-9845-1024-2

                           eBook                     978-1-9845-1023-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 02/23/2018

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

773917

CONTENTS

1.     Presence

2.     Survival Kit

3.     Stardust

4.     Passenger

5.     A Piece of Advice

6.     Still

7.     Wasp

8.     As they Are

9.     Canterbury Tale

10.   Aubade

11.   To Each His Own

12.   Panis Angelicus

13.   Mourning Dove

14.   Engaging Pythagoras

15.   Abandoned Property

16.   In Reach

17.   Bits and Pieces

18.   Still Sing

19.   Yes

20.   Pullover

21.   Time-Lapse Photographs

22.   Civilization and Its Discontents

23.   Auld Lang Syne

24.   The Metaphysics of Being

25.   Christmas Carol

26.   The Way It Is

27.   The World All Right

28.   Thanksgiving

29.   Solemn Vows

30.   Garden

31.   House

32.   While

33.   Fatima

34.   Bug

35.   Bush

36.   Wife

37.   Small Talk

38.   The Cause

39.   Sirens’ Call

40.   Magnum Mysterium

41.   The Beginning of an Idea

42.   Stinker

43.   Postcard

44.   Enough

45.   Danse Macabre

46.   A Paean for Jimmy

47.   Mostly Mozart

48.   Solemn Industry

49.   Afterwards

50.   Shekinah

51.   Travel Notes

52.   The Gravity of Desire

53.   Rose

54.   The Flower Exchange

55.   The New Colossus

56.   Peacock

57.   The Synthesis of Green

58.   Necessary Praise: After Hopkins

59.   That is To Say

60.   Indoor Gallery

61.   Hernando’s Hideaway

62.   Carmine

63.   Interdiction

64.   Ennui

65.   Baccala

66.   Mugshots

67.   The Simple Gift

68.   Ave Maria

69.   Paradise Lost

70.   Incident in the Park

71.   Poetry

72.   Small Steps

73.   Father’s Day

74.   Jack

75.   A Bad Translation

76.   Remedies for Cold

77.   At the Movies

78.   Beautiful for Spacious Skies

79.   Scattershot

80.   Counterpane

81.   Shopping for Groceries

82.   Ding an Sich

83.   Ezekiel in the Valley of the Bones

84.   Invitation

85.   Drama Queen

86.   Lang Synne

87.   Stabat Mater

88.   The Bean Counters

89.   A Point in Time

90.   In the Ruins of Pompeii

91.   Summa theologica

92.   Gift

93.   Epiphany

94.   Running Into Blank

95.   The Raft of the Medusa

96.   What is Given

97.   Bottom Line

98.   Opening the Door for Elijah

99.   States of Being

100. Of Poets and Chicken Soup

101. Man Beast

102. The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove Chinese Takeout

103. Predator

104. On Plymouth Rock

105. Eluding the Minotaur

106. Panis Angelicus

107. Scrappers

108. Our Father Who Art in Heaven

109. Where It Comes from

110. Nightcap

111. Aubade

112. Absence

113. Pro Defunctis

114. Holocaust

115. In the Name of God

116. Holy of Holies

117. You Who Are Lost in the Valley

118. Morning Song

119. Elegy for Giovanni

120. Night Watch

121. Disquisition

122. Sad News

123. Astronaut

124. The Revelation

125. Dots

126. The Wisdom of Anarchy

127. At the End of the Day

128. Tao

129. How One Should Dress for A Poem

130. Intro To Poetry 101

131. Quandary

132. Rex

133. Poetry

134. Untitled

135. Why You Don’t Hear from Me

136. You

137. Body and Soul

138. The Paragon of Animals

139. The Word is Not You

140. Accolade

141. Rosh Hashanah

142. Sos

143. Request

144. The Pentagon Papers

145. So

146. Parameters

147. Time Out

148. Readymade

149. After Noon

150. Gospel

151. Message in A Bottle

152. By Dawn’s Early Light

153. Watermelon Tart

154. Ain’t Necessarily

155. Violets Are Blue

156. Armageddon

157. Awake

158. The Lady on the Subway, Her Daughter

159. Poesy

160. Eclipse

161. This is Just To Say

162. Poetry

163. Itself

164. A Matter of Degree

165. A Fine Invention

166. In It

167. Speaking Plainly

168. On That Sweet Awful Day

169. The Bulls of Pamplona

170. Sacred and Profane Love

171. The Beginning of an Idea

172. Passage

173. What is Really Important

174. Genesis

175. Return

176. Prayer

177. The Rime of the Brooklyn Landlord

178. Anniversary

179. Travelogue

180. The Meaning of Poetry

181. Wolfman

182. Beast

183. Telling It

184. For Sure

185. Points of Purpose

186. The Temptation of St, Anthony

187. Poems

188. Pillow Talk

189. It

190. Death of A Friend

191. Pacing Time

192. Grace

193. Squandered Cash

194. Manhunt

195. Birth Day

for Ronnie

always rainbows

bouquets of flowers

when she laughs

forges of iron

anvils of steel

when she loves

PRESENCE

Your reverence,

and all your attention

must be for the whole of this,

whatever it is,

right here,

right now—

not the next second

not the minute from now

not the morrow we’re always wishing for,

not the then we’re always rushing toward

but for this this—

you must be all here reading this --

right now!

SURVIVAL KIT

This is how you survive.

Know first—face it—

that you’ve shown up

thirteen billion years late in the game,

that you, King, Queen, beggar-man,

saint or fool,

are temporary, are dust,

that ultimately and finally

all your hoo-hah, rah-rah and bullshit

won’t matter anyway

not to you, not to me, not to anybody

like an old newspaper doesn’t

filled with stuff that already happened

tossed on a seat of a subway car,

and after you let that sink in

hoot and holler about it for awhile—

do your antic dance, start your novena—

rant, rail, take lithium, whatever poison suits you—

beam up beings in the sky, yourself there—

put gun to your head—

razor to your wrist—

then, when you’re ready to stop your malarky,

do this next, for as much and as long as you can:

flush your eyes with indigo and orange,

cobalt, ochre, and cinnabar,

a slash of dawn, the bunting’s wing.

Whorl your ears with coos and caws,

the cry of the eagle, the call of the prairie wolf.

Singe your mouth with capsicum, ginger,

savina and radish root.

Breathe in lily, lilac, hyacinth,

rose and white gardenia.

Touch the hard ribs of trees,

the smooth stems of flowers—feel

the force of the earth coursing through them.

And then get