Sonnet I, Reimagined

Back in August 1992, I wrote my first poem. It was a sonnet on Beethoven and His Fifth Symphony (shown below). It was all right, except it required the reader to know what Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony was, which I could not provide in verse. Nor could I do it with ease even if I was performing it.

Over 31 years later, I finally found the perfect venue to present it as I had imagined it should have been presented back in 1992, with music and images, cleared for copyright, without needing a whole set up of equipment and supportive media. That venue is TikTok, and it is where many of my past classical style poems found on this site will find a second life!

@iamtiktoktan

My first sonnet, from 1992, inspired by Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony! #sonnet #poem #poetry #poetrytok #poetryreading #beethoven #fifthsymphony #beethovensfifth #voiceeffects #voiceeffect #voiceover #voiceovers #refinedvoice

♬ Beethoven Symphony No. 5 “Fate” – Kohrogi

That is me reading, but it is not my voice. It is a voiceover that ensures a steady sound output even when my setting is a bit different for things like a little echo, minimizes background noise after my lapel microphone has done so, and gives a steady pronunciation. The voice effect, as TikTok calls it, is called Refined, though I picked it on how it sounded for the poem. I will use the same criteria for future poetic readings, meaning I will likely switch among a handful of voices. Pending the poem, I may even go with female voices, which I don’t have to sound anything like to use effectively! It’s all about clear pronunciation to use the effects effectively, then other aspects of reading to make the reading effective, so I still have to do a lot on my part towards the end quality, but I can overlook a few things for now.

This is very exciting for me to be able to give some of these past poems a second life and enhanced identity, but ultimately, of course, the quality of the poems, or lack thereof, will determine how much or little others will enjoy it.

I hope you enjoyed this one!

For future posts of my poems read on TikTok, please click on this link or look for TikTok in the main menu. You can also follow my TikTok, of course, but it won’t be about poetry mostly so I’m going to guess you wouldn’t be interested, for the most part, to ask you to waste your time to follow me there. Thank you.

Haiku 264

I find soya sauce
As dull to the tongue as is
To the eye or ear

01.15.24

Sonnet II Read

This is my reading of my Sonnet II, written in 1994, now that I have the technological means to easily create a reading video I like. A voice effect (voiceover) is used because it gets me a more consistent sound quality than I can with my lapel microphone.

Tanka T158

Sometimes all I can
Do is give someone the nails —
Hammer, and coffin —
So stop procrastinating
And get building that coffin!

01.11.24

Haiku H261

A few hundred clouds
That are fluffy introverts
Not looking for friends

Running Poem R106

Clouds racing across the sky
Uncut and unphased
By sickle in sky

.

01.24.23

Running Poem R105

Swallows are chirping –
Humans are sniffling –
Shielded from wind gusts in woods

 

04.16.22

Is It Better to Love and Lost, Than Never to Have Loved at All?

O Shakespeare!
Difficult questions poseth thee!
But relevant,
And relevant for eternity,
Which I suspect will keep thee,
Relevant for eternity.

 

But is it such a difficult question?
Perhaps only if the answer had to be binary.
A Yes or a No.
Which wouldst not be faireth
Given ’tis one of life’s complicated questions,
For which the universal response
Of “it depends” applieth.

 

But could a binary answer be found statistically,
As if it were a Yes or No mostly,
Or even just in majority?
Perhaps Yes.
But also perhaps No.
‘Twouldst depend
On other details of the Love involved.
How much?
How long?
How strong?
And other details among.

 

So it seems I was wrong.
‘Tis a difficult question, indeed!
Not to mention for some contemplators,
The question if it were ever Love,
That shouldst the loss question precede.

 

O Shakespeare!
Difficult questions poseth thee!
Perhaps I will attempt another,
To attempt to answer,
Instead of this quandary.

 

Let’s see…
How’s about “To be or not to be”?
Let’s see…
If an answer binary
Were easier to find
To resolve that bind?

 

Yes!
Yes!
I am convinced ’tis!
Even if by circumstance
The true answer would be
“It depends”

 

But statistically,
By overwhelming majority,
The answer is definitely,
“To be”!

 

‘Tis what “to be”,
That is the question
Of greater difficulty…

 

11.28.2021

Haiku H260

The pandemic was
Graffiti thrown on
Each of our friendscape paintings

.

07.14.21

Running Poem R104

Writing poetry –
In a different English –
Than I had been taught –
One not acceptable for
Anything except poetry

 

03.15.21 – 06.20.21

Running Poem R103

No haiku today –
On the standard stop by sea –
To write poetry

03.24.21 – 06.20.21

Moving Day

Moving day was June 1st –
2021

To modern poetry –
On a new blog –
Called microbursts