The Poetry of R.E. Slater

"Autobiographies of great nations are written in three manuscripts – a book of deeds, a book of words, and a book of art. Of the three, I would choose the latter as truest testimony." - Sir Kenneth Smith, Great Civilisations

"I must write each day without fail, not so much for the success of the work, as in order not to get out of my routine." - Leo Tolstoy

I have never believed that one should wait until one is inspired because I think the pleasures of not writing are so great that if you ever start indulging them you will never write again. - John Updike

"The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it." - J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Poetry is the shadow cast by our streetlight imaginations." - Lawrence Ferlinghetti

[Note - If any article requires updating or correction please notate this in the comment section. Thank you. - res]

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

A Love Song from a Father to his Daughter

EDDIE VEDDER OFFERS GORGEOUS NEW SONG

‘SKIPPING’ FOR COMPILATION

http://antiquiet.com/music/2012/04/eddie-vedder-offers-gorgeous-skipping-on-new-compilation/

by Johnny Firecloud

9:21 AM Sunday, April 29th 2012

EDDIE VEDDER, MUSIC

We have a beautiful new song from Eddie Vedder this morning, called Skipping. The track is featured on the new compilation Every Mother Counts, the namesake of a foundation dedicated to addressing the issue of maternal mortality during pregnancy.

The love letter from a parent to a child is a delicate, complexly personal yet gorgeous composition, a conveyance of unquenchable adoration between souls that may be entirely lost on those without children of their own – or at least a true depth of love with which they can relate.

Framed by the sounds of his own daughter playing and gentle acoustic guitar tones, the Pearl Jam frontman delivers a heartfelt performance full of gorgeous self-harmonizing that does a fine job of encapsulating the tenderness, fragility, pride, joy and immersive love of a bond between a father and child, wrapped in the metaphor of skipping along with her. He knows that the moment and innocent joy can’t possibly last forever, and the song is a conveyance of cherishing that fleeting purity of a childhood connection with a parent.

Listen to Skipping here, or below:

Eddie Vedder - Skipping

It’s a deeply personal track, once which doesn’t fit the single cycle or the hype headline machine. So it’s with a warm feeling that I’m able to post this on a quiet Sunday morning.

Lyrics

I didn't have to ask you, just took my hand

Off we went skipping throughout the land
The sky was blue and the blood filled my head
Me and you skipping throughout the land
All of my life from beginning to end
What I remember is holding your hand
And all that I'll cherish is that time that we've spent
Me and you skipping throughout the land.

All the loves lost and the one that I found
You lifted my gaze up off of the ground
Forever we'll talk and forever we'll drown
In each other skipping around.

Gravity pulls so many men down
The atmosphere breathes but not in this town
You took me away and you held me so proud
Skipping, skipping, skipping around.

All the king's horses and all the king's men
Could not keep me from holding your hand
When all that I wanted was something to protect
And all that I needed was your voice in my head
And all I remember from this life that I lived
Is me and you skipping throughout the land.

- Eddie Vedder

Wikipedia Bio - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Vedder

Friday, June 6, 2014

R.E. Slater - Kindred Fellowships

Ludovico Einaudi - Nuvole Bianche

(Official Visualiser)

Sunrise

Kindred Fellowships

by R.E. Slater

Have you ever watched a rising morning sun

stalking knee-high clovered fields wet in dew?

Or felt the deepening rumble of a storm cloud's approach

shrouding breathless airs soaked in fresh ozone?

Or witnessed a cold fog envelop a murky beach

against a restless sea moving in endless rhythm?

Or listened the wandering night sky's starry silence
upon a far hillside from setting dusk to waking dawn?

In all these things God's handiwork abounds,

written across the laden heavens,

across this good earth we live and breathe,

filling our hearts with wondrous mystery.

Whose very lives are held so dear,

so adorned by redeeming love,

so cherished by mercy's grace,

so lost in a world so complex and feared.

We, the living temples of God's first Words,

who wouldst tread the mounts of His holy creation,

or delve into our Redeemer's inmost sanctuaries,

impassioned by all that inspires and devotes.

We, who keep the night watches and morning suns,

who inhale evening's early mists in lingering whispers,

who are blessed and wouldst give blessing,

who seek, and grasp, and fall, and fail.

Let us praise our heavenly Sovereign for His wisdom,

our mighty Creator for all that is good and strong.

Let us sing our Savior's wonders and mercies,

met new everyday upon the souls of men.

Let us seek harmony's peace amidst its grander fellowships,

giving thanksgiving for heaven's abiding love and devotion.

And for this good earth whose good fellowship we tread,

scribing a poet's inspiration to a Redeemer's heart filled with tears.

R.E. Slater

Calla Lilies along the Big Sur, Garrapata State Park, California