a literary confidence
To my teenage self, dizzy with wonder at the lyrics of “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” Keith Reid looked brainy and hip, which I didn’t know could be a thing, but there he was in band photographs, usually front and center, as if he was Mr. Procol Harum himself.
But tell me, did I not suffer a vision, that is to say, see something dreadful at my door?
The whole business makes me dippy, and honestly, I don’t care about any of it unless there’s some magic in the work itself, a spark in the melody or the lyric that will distinguish the work the way all great art is distinguished, by its timelessness and universal appeal. A song, for the sake of this argument, like the small wonder that is 1968’s, “Till Death Us Do Part.”
I dream that I forget in which direction I am headed. The road splits. I panic and take an exit unknown to me. It doesn’t make any difference.
long suffering spring phrases seek a shot of poetry B-12
Number one, Fred Shaw represents: Pittsburgh, reading everything and writing narrative poetry from his own experience in the argot (lingo) of the Rust Belt restaurant worker. As he has said, “the workaday speech of line cooks and dishwashers is the signature sound."
So, in the spirit of establishing a courteous process going forward and to avoid confusion, I...
Pagan's tiny cottage in the woods became what the Scots refer to as a "howff" – a gathering place for hunters, shepherds and drunken wags.
..."Triad" and "The Lee Shore." I learned them both but had no clue what they were really about. They confused a 7th grade boy. What the hell is a “sister lover” or a “water brother “?
On the track "Rubylove" (Cat's nod to his Greek heritage) he features traditional bouzouki and sings a verse in his Cypress-born father's native language. And thank god for Greeks: lamb souvlaki, dark olives, John Cassavettes' movies, Platonic relationships, Nana Mouskouri and Cat Stevens.
Just Between You and Me 