Poetry and Lyrics

Updated November 12, 2018

One thing about being a humanities major — you come across a lot of good poetry during your literature classes, and it makes you want to read more.  Sometimes you even try your own hand at an exceedingly difficult craft, even if it’s only in blank verse.

These articles contain poetry and lyrics I’ve either come across when looking for something for a piece, or that inspired an article directly, or a piece that I wrote myself.

• Something to Major Tom (filk, based on David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”)
• Put the Blame on Mame, Boys (Allan Roberts and Doris Fisher)
• Lighthouse (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) [Poetry Foundation, Academy of American Poets, Maine Historical Society]
• SL Hallowe’en — The Sorceress (“La Belle Dame sans Merci,” John Keats) [Poetry Foundation, Academy of American Poets, John-Keats.com]
• SL Hallowe’en — Olympian Oracle (Lawrence Ferlinghetti) [Poetry Foundation, Academy of American Poets]
• Stormy Weather (Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler)
• Everything Old is New Again (Peter Allen)
• The White Witch (James Weldon Johnson)
• Hwaet! Hear of the Tale of Philip of Linden… (filk, based on Beowulf)
• Sweater Weather (Lisa Shields)
• Get This Party Started (Linda Perry)
• Get Along, Little Dogies (traditional)
• Your Baby Really Looks Good in Blue (from the lyrics by Diane Warren)
• Moon Priestess (Harper Ganesvoort)
• In Flanders Fields…. (John McCrae)
• Waiting…. (Harper Ganesvoort)
• Château de la Lune (Paul Laurence Dunbar)
• Touched By a Gold Finger (John Barry, Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley)
• To Robert Burns, on the Occasion of His Birthday (with selections from Burns’ works)
• The Winter Queen (various quotes)
• The Waste Lands (T. S. Eliot)
• Donna Flora in the Fountain (Sammy Cahn)
• Crying in the Chapel (Artie Glenn)
• “…to reign in Hell….” (John Milton, from Paradise Lost)
• Black Ice (Harper Ganesvoort)
• Ozymandia (“Ozymandias,” Percy Bysshe Shelley)
• Thoughts of a Supermodel Waiting for the Shoot to Start (Harper Ganesvoort)
• Party Here, Party There, Everywhere (“Ladies’ Night,” George Brown, Kool & the Gang)
• Spirit of the Earth (quote from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran)
• California Nights (Marvin Hamlisch and Howard Liebling)
• Yemana (author unknown)
• The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea (from Stephen Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures)
• Thoughts of a Resident Surfer, Looking for Entertainment (Harper Ganesvoort)
• To a Friend Estranged from Me (Edna St. Vincent Millay)
• Yearbook Daze
• Dream Weaver (Gary Numan)
• The Carnival is Over (English lyrics by Tom Springfield)
• The Dream-Ship (Eugene Field)
• Waiting (republished with changes and improved photos) (Harper Ganesvoort)
• Making an Entrance (Harper Ganesvoort)
• From Hair Fair 2015 — sYs Micha (excerpts from “Love in the Valley” by George Meredith, taken out of order)
• Between the Shadow and the Soul (One Hundred Love Sonnets, XVII, by Pablo Neruda)
• Mariposa (“To a Butterfly” by William Wordsworth)
• Sunny Days (Alysia Victoria Gonzales)
• When Love Begins (“Florence”)
• Going To a Go-Go (Smokey Robinson et al., excerpt)
• O Canada
• La Marseillaise
• Telephone Line (Jeff Lynne)
• We’re All Alone (Boz Scaggs)
• Bal Masqué (Arthur Symons, To a Grey Dress)
• Edges of Autumn (Lines written in the days of growing darkness, by Mary Oliver)
• Rejoin (Harper Ganesvoort)
• Crossroads (Harper Ganesvoort)
• What Is Reality? (Josh Wolf)
• A Night of Love (love is more thicker than forget, by E. E. Cummings)
• Nights in White Satin (Justin Hayward)
• In the Hamptons (Shakespeare, Sonnet 98)
• A Journey (Nikki Giovanni)
• Fern Hill (Dylan Thomas)
• The Lamp of Life (Amy Lowell)
• Night Mail (W. H. Auden)
• I Believe I Can Fly (Robert S. Kelly)
• “… the eleventh hour of the eleventh day ….” (various poets)