Who Would Be A Writer

July 30, 2017

I have to laugh sometimes. Not a belly laugh you understand, more a laugh filled with irony and truthful paradoxes.

Like I said in my last Blog, I am trying to be a writer. I have been writing poems, short and lengthy stories for a long time.  I have even written a novel. (Awaiting publication).

It took me some 5 years to write one of my longer poems "Sharm El Sheik" and some 7 years for "The Black Man's Song" to reach maturation. My wife goes for a quick run a couple of Saturdays ago and comes back with a poem that I would die for.

I think the Creative Pool likes her.

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Me and Nature in a Dance

Me and nature, nature and me, we are one in rhythm and spirit.

We move as one entity colliding in unity,

Our souls permeating the same air and flow.

We merge into one at the point of recognition and awareness.

As my feet hit the ground,

There is acknowledgment that we connect at a deep place,

A place beyond our knowing.

As l hear their song,

They try to tell me something of their lives,

As they fly to places deep and wide,

Beyond my limited imagination.

I follow them as l follow the wind,

Which blows against my skin,

Accepting the evaporation of the elements,

As they leave my body, immersing to become one.

I breathe in that same air,

Which then fuels me to interact,

Even more with the greater source.

The sun radiating down on my physical being,

Nurturing, bathing, nourishing and connecting at a cellular level,

To remind me at a nuclear level of my deeper meaning.

At one now with nature,

Every step,

Every breath,

Every beat of my heart,

Connecting and uniting,

With the life force energy around me.

The squirrels and rabbits,

Now run alongside me as if they know,

They know l am at source with them.

And as our eyes connect,

And our pulse dance to the same beat,

We smile and relax in each other’s presence.  

The singularity of our joy is bursting,

The pace quickening, the breath,

The beat, the song advancing,

As the melody harmonises to a single cord.

At one with nature, at one with myself.

The dragon fly flaps its wings and races me

As we both sync in time –in synergy we arrive.

The aroma of the forest envelopes my being,

The sweet, sweet smell of damp wood and of life in all its forms.

And as l survey the wondrous sights around me,

Feeling unburdened, free and spirit abound,

Our choreography is now complete.

And l am one with nature once more.

The trees enclose me with their leaves,

The wind caresses me with its breeze,

And all is well.

Sue Merchant

Copyright: July 2017

Realities Blog - Jul 2017

Relentless Realities Blog for Jul 2017

July 28, 2017

Roy Merchant

Many of you will know that I am trying to be a writer.

What you may not be aware of is that for the last year I have been toiling under the weight of writing a kind of autobiography about my life set around the music that I love.

Don’t get me wrong, I love most music, but I have gotta say that I am passionate about (in no particular order) Rhythm and Blues, Soul Music from the 60’s and 70’s, Blues, Jazz, Ska, Rock Steady and Reggae. And a bit of classical thrown in.

Also Love Funk, but only when James Brown plays it (You should have been in Singapore in 1967 and 68 to see Neil dance to “Cold Sweat” and “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” in the dance halls of the RAF bases. It was truly a sight to remember and is still almost touchable 50 years later).

Well, the book is nearly finished and is being edited as I write. Hopefully the Editor thinks it is wonderful and amazing and I do not have massive rewrites to do, mainly because there is another one rattling around in the brain and I have a collection of poems that I need to be getting on with.

The main reason for this email is to let you know that I have a website where you can follow my writing and additionally, from time to time I give away some free books, articles, poems and other interesting stuff and thoughts.

I am asking a big favour of my subscribers. I invite you to have a look at my latest musings and give me some feedback. Be as honest (brutal) and helpful as you want, but please no rude stuff, I have kids and grandkids who are encouraged to look at my site.

I would love you to join and subscribe to our site. 

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Thanking you in advance,

Roy.

Relentless Realities Home Page

ps: See below for a free peak at the new book. Don't forget to subscribe:

Excerpt from: Rhythms Of My Life

I mentioned earlier about Neil dancing to James Brown’s music in 60’s Singapore. Here is a excerpt from my new book: Rhythms Of My Life, which tells it as it was.

James Brown I feel Good album – 1968

By January 1969, the northeast monsoon had taken over dictating the weather in Singapore and the swimming pools in the Royal Naval Dockyard recreation area were empty again. By now all the black service men from the Navy, Marines, Air Force and the Army had met each other, either at dances in the airbase at Changi and Seletar, the Army base or the Naval base down at Sembawang. Some nights we would go along to house parties and have a great time with people from all nationalities. We could not understand that the same esprit de corps that we found at parties was not there the next day we turned up for work. By then we had gone straight back into being looked down on as if we did not belong. As if our lives were less important than everyone else’s.

It was in the dances at RAF Seletar that we heard James Brown being played loudly and enjoyed by everyone. At the time “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” had been around a while, It was off the album “I feel Good”, but in England I was not really a great James Brown fan. Yes, I had listened to the album “Live at The Apollo” like everyone else, but it was only on the lonely dance floors in Singapore, where we were in our triple ply mohair suits and our made to measure shirts with the silk handkerchiefs dancing a dance of their own, that the album made sense to me.

Us black boys who had called ourselves “The Untouchables” would pursue fun across Singapore as if our lives depended on it. We would beg the DJ to keep playing “Night Train”, “Cold Sweat”, and “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag”, “I Feel Good” and everything that James Brown had out, so that we could stay in the groove all night. We would dance. Neil would hold us all entranced as his small stature gave him the perfect balance to mesmerise everyone with the way his body translated what was in his mind and the mind of the musicians on the record.

There were times when Neil was so good, everyone else just stopped and looked. He had a way of flicking his handkerchief to “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” which was simply magical. The handkerchief seems to stay in the air as if it was suspended, whilst he did a double spin and the splits, then he would catch it as he was half way back up into the standing position. Simply breathless. We used to leave RAF Seletar exhausted.

Full copyright : Roy Merchant July 2017