The Lovers’ Chronicle 4 April – paintin’ – art by Maurice de Vlaminck – birth of Maya Angelou

Dear Zazie,

Here is today’s Lovers’ Chronicle from Mac Tag.

Rhett

The Lovers’ Chronicle

Dear Muse,

not sure of the origin
it began as a fictional
story in 2016
“You like telling stories”
i do, one of the reasons
i enjoy poetry is because
every poem is a micro-story
“Even the ones that appear
to be random words tossed
in a bowl and poured on the page”
ha, yes even those
“So tell me a story”
come lay in my arms
and i will paint for you
with words a place
where we can flourish
and nothin’ else matters

© copyright 2023 mac tag/cowboycoleridge all rights reserved

came here to recover, to seek; you ask if i will write and i agree because it is somethin’ i can do for you; when it gets darker, the words seem to float through the gloamin’; i am not thinkin’ at all, just movin’ the pen, grabbin’, releasin’ words, continuin’ to heal

© copyright 2022 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

need to sleep
but i want to write
one more for you

on this canvas,
two comin’ together
in the night creatin’
somethin’ neither
had before

a vague understandin’
comin’ clear only now
of wantin’, bein’ more

the way it feels
i know you know

it can only be this

© copyright 2021 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

Pale Love, Pale Rider

do you tire
of me goin’ on like this

of paintin’ these pictures
of all that you mean
either shinin’, or strugglin’
your way through your day

verse, all that matters

and this brave,
startlin’ truth

it costs all we are
and will ever be
yet it is only this
which sets us free

© copyright 2020 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

need sleep
but i want to write
one more for you
you have that
and more comin’

to what purpose
to return, when
it was effortless
the strokes sure
confident
when capturin’
color and light
were all that mattered

the way it felt
i know you know

come, shall we go

© copyright 2019 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

an affair of the mind
to be real, it must be
paint as you feel
as you think

instinct, need
so opportunely
purifies

curious, complex
paint, as a way
to understand

feel and it suffices
to inspire
there is but one way
of understandin’
entirely
in the present
an absinthe
whose strength
only the sensual
can stand

© copyright 2018 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

been here a week
this time
came home
to change
to get back

she asks if i will paint
and i agree because
it is somethin’
i can do

she watches,
without speakin’
as i try to capture
the light

when it gets darker,
the paint seems to float
through the gloamin’
i am not thinkin’ at all
just movin’ the brush,
grabbin’ and releasin’ color,
slowly beginnin’ to heal

© copyright 2016 Mac Tag all rights reserved

On the outside:
A cowboy hat
Starched shirt. Jeans pressed
tight, stacked over
black polished boots
On the inside:
Do not ask. Please
do not open

***

Oh my; be still my heart.
At the feed store:
Pretty woman wearin' spurs.
swoon

© copyright 2015 Mac Tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

Today is the birthday of Maurice de Vlaminck (Paris 4 April 1876 – 11 October 1958 Rueil-la-Gadelière, France); painter.  He is considered one of the principal figures in the Fauve movement, a group of modern artists who from 1904 to 1908 were united in their use of intense colour.

Self portrait

In 1894 he married Suzanne Berly. The turning point in his life was a chance meeting on the train to Paris towards the end of his stint in the army. Vlaminck, then 23, met an aspiring artist, André Derain, with whom he struck up a lifelong friendship. When Vlaminck completed his army service in 1900, the two rented a studio together, the Maison Levanneur, which now houses the Cneai, for a year before Derain left to do his own military service. In 1902 and 1903 he wrote several mildly pornographic novels illustrated by Derain. He painted during the day and earned his livelihood by giving violin lessons and performing with musical bands at night.

He married his second wife, Berthe Combes, with whom he had two daughters.

Gallery

And today is the birthday of Maya Angelou (born Marguerite Annie Johnson; St. Louis; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014 Winston-Salem, North Carolina); poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist.

She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. Angelou’s autobiographies focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.

She became a poet and writer after a string of odd jobs during her young adulthood. These included fry cook, sex worker, nightclub performer, Porgy and Bess cast member, Southern Christian Leadership Conference coordinator, and correspondent in Egypt and Ghana during the decolonization of Africa. Angelou was also an actress, writer, director, and producer of plays, movies, and public television programs. In 1982, she was named the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Angelou was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. In 1993, Angelou recited her poem “On the Pulse of Morning” (1993) at the first inauguration of Bill Clinton, making her the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961.

She married Tosh Angelos in 1951, and Paul du Feu in 1974, and began her relationship with Vusumzi Make in 1961, but never formally married him. She died aged 86.

quotes

You were a precious pearl
How I loved to see you shine,
You were the perfect girl.
And you were mine.
For a time.
For a time.
Just for a time.

• “Just for a Time”

I have need of a friend.

There is one and only one
who will give the air
from his failing lungs
for my body’s mend.

And that one is my love.

• “Many and More”

Love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.
A Brave and Startling Truth.

thanks for stoppin’ by y’all

mac tag