Spills from a Quill: A Collection of Poetry and Prose

By Joanne de SImone

Splashes of poetry, essays and short fiction, from early teen to done and seen, with some lessons learned in between, recorded in the order of the writers life

Joanne writes poetry in the style of a lyricist, liquid and flowing with rhythm; her short stories and essays are thoughtful and provocative as her quill spills emotion from her soul.
- Christine Prendergast. Author, Lecturer, Artistic Director at Breaking the Rules, Creative Consultant to all writers at The Sounding Board.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 20, 2018
• ISBN: 9781546251699

Joanne de SImone

Author, film historian and award-winning playwrighttwo of Joanne's eight plays, The Suicide Angel, and Earthmen, are currently in film pre-production, and many have been produced in NYC theatre festivals; her film review column appeared in the Fire Island News from 1998-2003 and the 2015 season. Joannes work has been published in various magazines, publications and film journals. de Simones young adult books, The Metro Cats: Life in the Core of the Big Apple, and The Peculiar Plight of Milicent Wryght, are urban Manhattan tales. Also published is her single-person anthology(under pen name L. L. Ferris), Lovers. Husbands. Strangers [A Baby-Boomer's Chronicle of Love, Lust and One-Night Stands]. Joanne works with fellow writers and independent film companies as an editor and narrative/script consultant. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the English Speaking Union, Shakespeare Guild, Episcopal Actors Guild, Drama League, board member of the Veronica Moscoso Foundation, FIJET, and serves as a judge for the Hudson River Classics Showcase Theater Playwriting Contest. Joanne resides in New York on the east end of Long Island.

Book preview

SPILLS from a Quill

A Collection of Poetry and Prose

JOANNE DE SIMONE

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AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2018 Joanne De Simone. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 07/18/2018

ISBN: 978-1-5462-5170-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-5169-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018908468

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.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

No Singer

With Solace My Company

Mostly, I Love You

The Grand Slammer

Reign Of Love

Robert 2 (Toscanini)

Troubled Karen

The Party

R.V. To War

A Flower

Subways Are For Weeping

The Second Of September

A Hopeless Search

For Life And Love

I Am Love

You Happened Into My Life

Friendship

To Exist

In The Mirror

Panic

Lost Innocence

Two People

Empathy

From Afar

For Someone

The Window Of Your Life

To My Son

To A. G.

Limping In Love

A Plea To Him

For R.B.

My Apology To You

Longing

Anger

On Meeting Him

Scorpio

Daddy’s Home On The Weekends

Resignation

Seeing Him

Rendevous

Separate Beds

November Weekend

For J.R.R.

No One

C.D. & Me & Reality

On Approaching Thirty…

A.P

C.D. Continues

A.P. II

Vista

A Child’s Nightmare

Shutting Down

Secret Lover

Sitting Alone

Nobody’s Home

A Sad Parody

Heaven Can’t Help

Wind Song

Thief Of Heart

My Traveling Lover

Leaving Toyland…

At Last…

Is There A Point?

The Sixty-Minute Sanctuary

For Johnny From The Block

Love Is…

The Act And The Art

Without A Kiss

In Season

Taking My Leave

Ode To A Tendon

Camera And Quill

Falling, Falling

A Thought

Silent Summer

Messages

Yellow Flowers

Yellow Flowers (Version Two)

Better Together

I Know This To Be True

REFLECTIONS AND OTHER PROSE

The Baby Brother

Ouija, The Mystic Handicapper

The Misguided Groupie

Oh, Henry Higgins!

Unborn Children

From The Wings

Two Ladies Under The Influence

I’m An Indian, Too!

How To Murder A Marriage

Songs Of The Christmas Season

Between Heaven And Hell— The Movies: Scorsese’s Middle Ground

The Seduction Of A Recovering Catholic

Dedicated to JLG,

my dearest friend

who calls me

Dolce

AUTHOR’S NOTE

T hese foolish verses, essays and flashes of fiction have been written over a period of sixty years. They are rhythms and reflections in the order of my life. The singular intent was to gather them and place them in a kind of scrapbook.

This author has taken liberty with the characterization of any of them worthy of titles under Poetry or Prose.

Every one of us is looking for an outlet to purge guilt or hurt or frustration or to simply give a voice to a joyless existence.

I don’t drink or smoke or take drugs. My only comfort is to search the dictionary and thesaurus for words that I think will express my feelings, then to pick up a quill and see what spills out.

Thank you.

IN THE ORDER OF TIME…

SOME RHYTHMS THAT RHYME

and

SOME THAT DON’T…

NO SINGER

No Singer can ever sing,

No poet can ever write

The way I feel about you darling

The way I feel tonight.

No teacher can ever teach,

No preacher can ever preach

The love you can have for someone else

Like my love is for you.

Let your sweet lips speak the words of love,

The words I want to hear.

Please say I am the only one,

Please say you want me near.

The glow of the sun at noon,

The sounds of a pretty tune

Can never contain the beautiful

Shine of my love for you.

1960

WITH SOLACE MY COMPANY

Last night dear, my tears shed for you

For my breath was stopped, and I was terribly blue;

As my tears fell, I dreamed of the night

When you’d open your eyes, and see my love’s light.

Through my drenched lugubrious eyes,

I saw your dark figure, and thought of your lies;

There you stood standing graceful and tall,

But when I moved toward you, you weren’t there at all.

My dear love, last night was the night

When I cried and wished everything would turn right,

As I lay there weeping, sprawled on my bed,

With solace my company, as many tears shed.

1961

MOSTLY, I LOVE YOU

I love the sound of a whistling breeze;

I love the sight of Autumn’s trees;

I love the buzzing of the bees,

But mostly, I love you.

I love the style of a Chopin’s tune;

I love the gold in Summer’s moon;

I love the night, adore the noon,

But mostly, I love you.

I love the words of a poet’s rhyme;

I love the colors of Spring sublime;

A taste of food, and drink of wine,

But mostly, I love you.

1962

THE GRAND SLAMMER

The pitcher threw, the ball went flying!

Strike! was called—Vinny’s not trying.

With three men on and two men out

The crowd began to stand and shout,

Come on Vin, clean up the base!

For a three-to-two game was quite a race.

The sphere was hurled into the wind!

Vinny swung, his body spinned.

Upon this miss shame reached his face,

A sense of loss, he felt disgraced.

"Vinny babe, it’s the very last inning!

Vinny babe, the other team’s winning!"

There went the pitch! That ball was fast!

Vin swung with force; he struck at last!

The crowd roared and stood amazed!

The pitcher stood frozen and dazed!

That ball was gone, the job was done;

Thanks to Vinny, the Series was won!

1964

REIGN OF LOVE

In my heart upon the throne

There’s a seat for you alone,

Where you control my every breath

Far after I reach the hand of death.

And in the luxury of love you’ll reign,

Ignorant to sorrow, all joy to gain.

On hand and foot I would you serve

The fruits of happiness you deserve.

And here adoration in its ultimate state

Will fill your needs and promise fate.

My kingdom of love you’ll forever own—

Apart of together, you reign alone.

1965

ROBERT 2 (TOSCANINI)

His hair is long and waving;

His tanned face is clean shaven;

His nose is fixed to match his face;

His walk is proud and filled with grace.

His lips are round and worth a kiss;

His smile shows a dimple none can miss;

His eyes are sexy brown and glow;

His voice is sultry, very low.

He’s a man I say, I know;

He’s a man from head to toe;

He is something I can’t bear—

You resist him if you dare.

1965

TROUBLED KAREN

It all began when she cut class,

And Jimmy refused to give her the pass;

Then she decided to go in late,

Now she’s in an awful state.

But school is only half her woe—

She’s getting a gift from nice guy, Joe.

She thinks it’s an ankle bracelet, to boot,

But to reciprocate will take some loot.

Jackie’s got a thing to hang on her neck;

Boy, could Karen use a real large check.

Now this is nothing to make you smile,

But getting back to school for a while—

They want to see her mother dear.

Well, there goes Karen’s hooky career!

Yeah, sure she’s in a horrid fright,

But if I know Karen, all will end right.

1965

THE PARTY

It was for Mary, Ernie and Mark

In a small place after dark.

It meant to be clean, with beer, no more,

When out of nowhere through the door

Bopped thirty-four, each a bottle in his hand;

Now everything would be just grand.

It started where we danced and sang,

Then the liquor flowed and well—bang!

Mary was in the bathroom all night;

Karen couldn’t even stand upright;

Joanne was sprawled across two chairs;

Olivia was all weird smiles and glares;

Carmela was happy Pat was there,

Until they strolled out in the air,

Where Pat took care of Karen so well;

Carmela and Jackie (Steve) both fell;

Everyone’s guy had found a new girl,

And everyone’s head was all in a whirl;

Jimmy was bombed before nine o’clock,

So Joanne walked him around the block;

But it was different at half-past ten—

Jimmy had to walk Joanne around, then;

Tony Butta brought a cute number,

But not for long, he soon dumped her;

Gerard told J. she looked like a tramp,

Her eyes were red, her hair was damp;

Karen looked as if she were dead,

But when the Bulls came, man she fled;

Greek put his hand thru a four inch wall,

But Robbie was walking straight and tall;