Wednesday 19th December, 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rod at Dos Vidas. Photo by Thomas Kist from the 2006 Arjan Vlakveld film “Rod McKuen: A Man Alone” for Netherlands Public Television. Photo ©2006, 2007 by Stanyan Audio Video Archives. All Rights Reserved.

A Thought for Today

This Holiday Season don't forget the women and men serving our country overseas.

 

FROM the¨BOOKS

NINETEEN SIXTY-THREE: TOMORROW

I know that love is running in the snow.
I cannot see it but it's there.
As sure as caterpillars tunnel in the leaves
and winter weight bogs down the trees.

And so I search the highways and the hills.

                      There was a time
when bar talk and Bartok did the job
and I would hurry home -
       a stranger in my arms or in my thoughts
to be content with San Francisco rain.

You'd be surprised
the way the dripping rain from rooftops
can ease a man from out himself
                      and into sun.

We're all older now,
This past year we have lost Piaf's smile,
                      Kennedy's promises
and Cocteau's jokes on everyone
(he said the ship was going down - remember.)

The year turns home.

Maybe tomorrow.

-from "Twelve Years of Christmas," 1969

Click on the Stanyan House logo to buy Rod McKuen books, CD's and lots more

Click on the heart logo to subscribe to the Rod McKuen mailing list

Catch Rod McKuen live!

Click on the links below for details of concerts and appearances.

ROD McKUEN CONCERTS

ROD McKUEN APPEARANCES
notable birthdays Jennifer Beals o Marianne Faithful o Janie Fricke o Jean Genet o Daryl Hannah o Elaine Joyce o Al Kaline o Richard Leakey o Alvin Lee o Amy Locane o Albert A. Marks o Lynda McClelland o Alyssa Milano o Edith Piaf o Tim Reid o Fritz Reiner o Sir Ralph Richardson o Jessica Steen o David Susskind o Nan Talese o Cicely Tyson o Robert Urich
Rod's random thoughts Winter is a word we choose to remember only vaguely, until it blows in in all its brilliance.

If we go to beds of boredom knowingly, we deserve the ill attention we receive.

I have no quarrel with your lovers, only admiration for their taste.

CHRISTMAS NOW

 There's tinsel in the town already
       and wreaths so fragile
       that I doubt they'll last
through Christmas Eve.

There was a time
when I was bothered by
       commercial Christmas
starting in on All Saints Eve.
But now I welcome each reminder,
however early or ill-timed,
of that sweet saviors birth.
For if we ever needed Christ's
and quiet Christmas men,
there is no time when
they should be more welcome
than just now.

Each reminder -
carols of an evening,
trees trucked early into town,
merchandise in mad array
        in downtown windows,
even plastic garlands
strung across every city street -
should only serve to prod us
into friendship and the fantasy
        of goodness
set down clearly by the mystery
we chose to name as God.

Man can always use reminders,
be they old or new names
served as recipes for love.

-from Women's Day, 1968
 
     
 
© 1970, 1986, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 by Stanyan Music Group & Rod McKuen. All Rights Reserved
Webmaster: Ken Blackie • Birthday Research by Wade Alexander • Poems from the collection of Jay Hagan •
Sound & Fury Dr. Eric Yeager • Editor at Large: Bruce Bellingham • Emeritus: Melinda Smith
Want to comment on today's Flight Plan?
Send e-mail to Rod McKuen or post a message at the Rod McKuen Message Board
home page   today's flight plan   flight plan archives   search this site   site map
stanyan