I Surround Myself with Beauty

A few years ago, I wrote a concrete poem (of sorts) that had a visually pleasing, sinuous justification. The notion was to have the shape of the poem display some of the beauty about which it was written.

As I started to make these songs, I decided to tailor those words into lyrics, where the physical structure of the poem could equate with the pattern of organizational structures in the song.

My life has changed a whole lot since the poem was originally written. But there is still beauty all around.

One interesting little technical issue was that the singer was pronouncing “Roget” as “Rosé,” but I didn’t notice until the song was well into production; fortunately, the word “Limoges” was also in there, so I duplicated that ‘zh’.

Lyrics

I just realized

I surround myself with beauty

in my home, at work, and play

So calm.

A row of crystal bottles lit with a rotation of rainbow lights

A colorful fan of worldwide paper money

Antique medical paraphernalia

And shapes of blades

A few framed items around

Picture of my family before me as I work all day

Their art to my left and to my right

Music is my emotional lability

Elated, heartbroken, furious, and fiercely inspired

Blame a song for the first poem I’ve written in 20 years

Music makes me cry for what life should be like

for everybody

Necklace of multicolored beads and multicultural Lego heads

Soft and colorful socks and underwear and shirts

Color, sound, and texture are on and around me

Limoges porcelain is within reach

And Torrone boxes

filled with childhood memories

I just realized

I surround myself with beauty

in my home, at work, and play

Serene.

One rough oxblood wall, the rest all pink, above smooth bamboo floors

Prismatic stained glass windows and purpleheart bookshelves

Bernini, Neruda, Erté, Roget, Culpepper and - and - and -

The books are The Family of Man and Woman and Children

Many are children’s stories about diversity

A few we have written

Hundreds more are on my phone

Communication, pastry, and biography

Fashion and history and creative psychosis

Science and faith and compassion

Ideasthesia

To name a good fraction

Books are not the only denizens of this domain.

You really have to feel the couch and the Persian carpet

Each so silky

Both the lamp and the cat are Tiffany

I mean seriously

That takes some kind of dedication

I just realized

I surround myself with beauty

in my home, at work, and play

So smooth

Beauty everywhere I look, sit, eat, listen, think, pee, and talk

Watrous or Bouguereau or Stanhope’s organ angels or - or - or -

Through the walls I hear my family laughing

Oh yeah, my flashlight is copper

And look there

I even made a one-cell Rubik’s cube

That’s just my life in my home office

I also live in the Pacific Northwest, in a tree-filled neighborhood, with a stunning garden

Really, the planet in general is pretty amazing.

Have you seen the moon lately?

Not to mention the stars

Fascinating

A traveling feast for the senses

Now, I do seem to have neglected the scents

I’ll get to work on that

After napping

Cuz you know I need my beauty sleep

I just realized

I surround myself with beauty

in my home, at work, and play

So cool.

You should really meet the people I love

Then you’d know what I’m talking about

Family and friends, most beautiful

My children

And my wife

The loves of my life

Avid contributors of who they are

I also work in intensely special education

A world of caring delicacy, charm, refinement and grace

A depth of beauty all its own

I just realized

I surround myself with beauty

in my home, at work, and play

So, yeah...

a lifetime of gorgeous imperfection

as I surround myself with beauty