This is for Word and Question 17 (Playing Poetry.) Those of you who come here regularly know the drill... ;-D I'm later than usual this month because we didn't actually start until mid-month, since the host, Enbrethiliel, has a crazy busy life right now. Enjoy!
Harmony
My friend Marie can sing quite well. She has
A deep and rich contralto voice that fills
A room with sound. You'd think that she,
With such a voice, would sing the deeper stuff
Like arias -- those songs from operas where
The girl tells off the hero just before
She kills herself. But no. Marie prefers
The stuff I like: the silly parodies
That Allan Sherman wrote, or nursery rhymes,
Or things we learned at campfires long ago.
When she lived here, she tried out for a choir.
When the director heard her sing, he said
"A luscious voice; like chocolate!" (Once or twice
Marie and I have sung together for
A "talent show" or something of that ilk.
I like to think that my -- much weaker -- voice
Sounded a little bit like caramel
Or soft vanilla, or something like that,
That didn't make the chocolate "seize.") And now
Marie lives far away. We stay in touch.
I see her pictures, and she reads my blog.
But oh, I'd like to sing with her again!
Word: Hero
Question: What color is a voice?
I had fun with this, although I wasted some time trying to make a pun of coloratura. But I wound up, as is usual for me, writing more-or-less about something from my life. I really did enjoy the pairing of colors and flavors to make this work. And Marie (although that is not her name) is a real person who really reads this blog. My favorite thing we ever sang together is this, (although the video part of the link LONG postdates our performance..)
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3 comments:
I love the poem and love the story! I'll check the youtube when I'm on my own computer, but for now ... brava!
Allan Sherman! Hello muddah, hello faddah!
Hurray Allan Sherman
"Oh wouldst I could kick the habit and give up smoting for good"
I am absolutely sure that Marie would love to sing with you again!
Nice poem, I love the texture. =}
+JMJ+
How lovely! My life is indeed so crazy-busy right now that I can't be certain whether that was my question (although I think it is!), but I do love the way you raised the bar and gave voices both a colour and a taste! (And the textures that go with tastes as well?)
I believe the blogger Pentimento (linked on my sidebar), who is a musicologist and classical singer, shared something similar several years ago. A friend who described her own voice as like "rich dark chocolate" (or something like that) compared Pentimento's voice to tiramisu--and Pentimento was a bit miffed! =P But tiramisu is not bad!
And I know what you mean about voices needing to go together the way ingredients go together. I once sang a duet with a trained singer whose ability to fill in the nooks and crannies of my warbling efforts made him a joy to sing with. I just worried about doing it too often when I needed him to carry me so much!
Thanks for playing again, Ellen. =)
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