Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Thanksgiving Unto You...



held yet ever so free
this feeling of gratitude grant I unto thee
within this heart and mind of mine
the graces of life, spirit and time
the past and present visions greet
people, places and memories sweet
abundance and bounty, the harvest be known
the gift of labors, the seeds be sown
seedlings and bloom, our blessings received
within all be the Creator conceived
breath and BEING in celebration anew
this a Thanksgiving unto you.

Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York



Saturday, November 23, 2013

Gershwin plays Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue


Rhapsody in Blue  
The Sounding City

The hum of cars, sounding horns
Tongues of many languages
Bright lights, fancy clothes
Saturday nights in memory
This Manhattan reverie
Rhapsody in Blue

The sound of feet on tenement steps
The radio heard from next door
This and eternal moments more
Rhapsody in Blue

The running of numbers
The shoe shine stand
Police car sirens
Dancehall music
Yes, New York City 
Be it in reflections ever grand
Rhapsody in Blue

A vision beyond the alley window
Beyond what the street life demands
Rhapsody in Blue.


Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York


In Dedication to
Carnegie Room Concerts



Friday, November 22, 2013

Thursday, November 21, 2013

APOGEE


apogee |ˈapəjē|
noun Astronomy
the point in the orbit of the moon or a satellite at which it is furthest from the earth. The opposite of perigee .
• figurative the highest point in the development of something; the climax or culmination of something...

Moon at the APOGEE,  22nd Nov 2013 ~ Moon reaches APOGEE, the farthest point from Earth (404,561 km - 251,967 mi from Earth).

APOGEE

The moon in its distant orbit so very far
At the APOGEE be this light, be this distant star
This orb divine of sacred light, its calling is heard
Within the darkness, the rapture, the given WORD
As too, the tides of the sea, held in its embrace
I in the ebb and flow of love's light and grace
Ascension, be this the glory, this divinity's call
The splendor, the ecstasy, the majesty of ALL
Within this PRESENCE an ALL knowing blessed BE
And held I within a distant vista, within a celestial sea.


Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York


LOGO of APOGEE Paradigm™, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 1983-2013.

 APOGEE Moon... A Metaphor for one's vision, for one's life work, for one's purpose defined... APOGEE, the furthest point in the moon's orbit... and so our quest for the highest point, for the journey's end, for a culmination, for the ultimate climax...our light, our love, our destiny known.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

November in New York... Haiku Reflection...


alchemic moments
season of splendor and change
the grace of autumn.


Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York 


The Grace of Autumn, APOGEE Vibrational Art, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2013.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

In Dedication to Margarita Rovenskaya


A Sunday afternoon at the Quincy Hall of the Union Arts Center,  Sparkill, New York, as the sun begins its setting sojourn, golden leaves, of the tree seen from the windows above,  hold to the light and the splendor of the sounding piano played by Margarita Rovenskaya. I listened, the light, the sound, became ONE, as joy made itself known...


Light and Sound

Golden hues in a lambent sky
Golden leaves of the towering tree
The winds and the lilting grace of the piano sounding
Such be this alchemic joy
Feel I the splendor of the dance of light and sound
This passion within each key played
Delicate and bold a lyrical majesty
Be this the heart and hand in Spirit's calling command
The breath, the pause in surrender sublime
Such be these treasures of heart
In Sunday's music embrace
Time bears its gift divine.


Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York


The Mulberry Tree, Vincent van Gogh, Painting, Oil on Canvas, Saint-Rémy: October, 1889.
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California

Margarita Rovenskaya
Adjunct Piano Faculty, NYU
Graduate Student, Masters Program
Piano Performance
New York University

Monday, November 11, 2013

In GRATITUDE ~ Veterans Day ~ November 11, 2013


Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain joined the ranks of the Union Army, during the American Civil War He became a highly respected and decorated Union officer, reaching the rank of brigadier general (and brevet major general). For his gallantry at Gettysburg, he was awarded the Medal of Honor. Certainly he lived the loss, the pain and the glory of the battlefield. And so his words:

"Heroism is latent in every human soul - However humble or unknown, they (the veterans) have renounced what are accounted pleasures and cheerfully undertaken all the self-denials - privations, toils, dangers, sufferings, sicknesses, mutilations, life-long hurts and losses, death itself - for some great good, dimly seen but dearly held." Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, 1828 – 1914.


To Honor Those Who Lived A Cause

Flowers and flags in devoted array
A loving tribute this Memorial Day
To honor those who lived a cause
This moment, this day, and so a pause
Hearts and souls in valor known
Right intention and devotion shown
Battlefields of victory and plight
Through all beheld freedom's light
Answered they did to liberty's plea
That freedom be held for a you, a me
Sons and daughters, husbands and wives
Children of purpose have given their lives
The breath of freedom an endowment divine
Bequeathed to life yours, life mine
With valor and sacrifice life they gave
And embraced the call yet to be brave
In memorial and reverence gather we
For held be the right that we live free
Memory of each life gone never to fade
Live we life's blessings for sacrifice made.

And they who for country and freedom in battle perish
We to weep and in loving memory with gratitude cherish
For each life that was lives in God's embrace sublime
Ever blessed be their souls in soaring grace divine.

This in homage to all who served and serve in faith ever new.



Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York


Photography: Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, Joe Rosenthal's historic photo depicts five United States Marines and one United States Sailor raising an American flag. 
It was taken by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945.


VFW Post 1615 Blauvelt NY Veterans Day Nov 11 2013 John Antonucci Commander
 Reading by Rose  Marie Raccioppi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ3mHujArow&feature=youtu.be

Orangetown Celebrates Veterans at Walkway of American Heroes
Pearl River, NY Patch

http://pearlriver.patch.com/groups/goodnews/p/orangetown-celebrates-veterans-at-walkway-of-american-heroes

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Politics and the the POET... People ~ Opportunity ~ Eternal ~ Truth ... ever the call... ever the claim... Rose Marie Raccioppi



With power
Noble light and deed
Live we Freedom's creed
The ravages of suppression 
Known and heard
So from the heart of Freedom 
Came each word
Declarations so marked 
To portray
That man free of oppression 
Be the chosen way
In Freedom’s light 
And with Freedom’s call
Dignity of expression 
A right granted all
And if with doubt 
A query new
A forum open 
For a challenged view
Hold these words 
As Freedom’s choice
Let not TRUTH be a silenced voice.

Rose Marie Raccioppi 
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York



The marble figures and fountains on either side of the main portico entrance of the New York City Public Library Main Branch, by Frederick MacMonnies, were installed in 1921.

On the right (north) is Truth, a man seated on a Sphinx, the form associated with Wisdom. Above the figure is an inscription from the Apocrypha (1 Esdras, chapter 3): 
BUT ABOVE ALL THINGS / TRUTH / BEARETH AWAY / THE VICTORY.



Monday, November 4, 2013

Upon My Walkway Here in Tappan, New York... A Poet's Palette




a poet's palette before thee
brilliant tones of many a tree 
leaves as bright as a bloom anew
be this the magical autumn hue
feel the rapture of Nature's passion shown
in the splendor of color this moment be known
scarlet, crimson, magenta, russet, they be
gathered upon my walkway colors alight I see
the surrender of time and this season's call
the bounty, the beauty, the blessings of Fall.

Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York


Photo: Upon My Walkway, CAR, Collectible Clicks, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2013.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Sunday in early November... Interlude...



caverns of my mind
an autumn interlude
palette of season's splendor
this array divine

held by the light
carried by the winds of change.



Rose Marie Raccioppi 
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York

Watercolor, Caverns of my mind, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2013.