Thursday, August 18, 2005

I Am a Song

I am a song.
I am a song that topped the charts, all the stations
every venue, every nation. Famous singers still choose to cover me.
You know my name, even if you can’t sing my tune.

I toured the world via airwaves and MTV.
I employed an entourage, the coolest band was playing me,
wild guitars, a different drummer; kids dancing,
romancing, blasting through the summer.

I am a song that topped the charts, all the stations.
I am the tune that stuck in your head when you least expected
and still shows up occasionally to remind you of something—
some THING.
I wound down. turned old school, uncool, ancient,
but my melody never left you because I am a song.

Then suddenly,
news-breakingly,
I am a curiosity.

VH-1 is wondering
where have I been?
They’re content hungry.
They need to feed the TV.

I’m a golden classic.
Exclusive elevators play me.
soft guitars, hardly any
drum track in the mix.
My teeth are gone.
I am still a song that topped the charts, all the stations,
every venue, every nation. Famous singers still choose to cover me.

What remains is how you listen. I am only the song.
me strauss 8/18/05

Thank you to "for the lonely" at (http://therose.blogspot.com/)
for her poem “Rock and Roll never forgets,” which inspired this poem.
—me strauss Letting me be

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yea!!! I LOVE it!!! And the last line..." how you listen"...that is so so true! Amazing! :)

Hugs to you,
Sarah

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Sarah,
Thanks to you for the inspiration. It was fun. I love challenges like that one. Maybe I should figure out a way to make that kind of challenge a part of my blog. hmmmmm.

Send your friends over or link or I'll email you a copy. I really don't care. Whatever works for you.

smiles,
me-Liz

Anonymous said...

That's great!

Hi...Just stopping by from Sarah's Blog..Gonna catch up on your entries.

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Hey Heidi,
Glad to have you.
It was fun to write the poem.
Sarah's a cool one. She's a keeper, I think.

smiles,
me-Liz

Anonymous said...

Hi Liz...I think that you are a cool cat too, thanks! :)

I noticed that you are a publisher...would you be willing to e-mail me so I can talk with you in depth regarding how I may go about publishing my poems? My e-mail address is :

saraitamargarita@yahoo.com

Thanks for your time, and kind words!

Fondly,
Sarah

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Sure Sarah,
I'd be happy to talk with you.

We'll talk soon.

smiles,
me-Liz

Anonymous said...

Exactly as it is and how it goes, and yet I think applicable to more than just songs, we all have our fame and our moments of waning popularity until suddenly it is "whatever happened to..?"

A great encapsulation and I agree about the last line, it sums it all up. It is indeed, how you listen.

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Thank you. You're right. We all face that "been there and now it means nothing" kind of situation. I suppose that's why I wrote it in the first person. I'm very careful about second person, it can sound so aggressive, and third person so literary and detached. For a subject like this, it could have sounded judgmental.

I had fun writing this one. I wondered if you would see it, especially after you had asked whether I ever put poetry on the blog.

This was an impulsive reaction to a poem I read on Sarah's blog. A reply.

Thank you for coming by.
smiles,
me-Liz

Anonymous said...

Sometimes I don't see the forest for the trees. I was too busy trying to figure out what song it was that I missed the true meaning of the poem. Ha!

Step back and look Mark. See it...

I may not be the first to do that but I bet I'm the first to admit it.

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

I think that proves you're a kid at heart. You thought it was a riddle.

WAY COOL!

Anonymous said...

I am looking forward to your posts.

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Hi Stacey,
Nice to meet, Very cryptic your message, especially with your account close. I look forward to learning more about you who starts here to find out about my blog.