Apollo’s First Sonata
Revisited
Where was I ten years
ago?
In 2008, I was in
Moncton. I had finished directing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead for
Hubcity Theatre, and I was at this point performing in one of my favourite
roles in their production of Gaslight. During this time I wrote songs under the
name Apollonian Skies, and also self-published my first book- a small poetry
book called Apollo’s First Sonata
(named after my song-writing name.)
I thought life was
starting to get rolling. For various reasons, it didn’t end up that way. I kept
busy, and though I only self-published the novel that I was working on since
2010 sometime last year, I did self-publish
it. Now, for the sake of trying to put everything in one spot so that I have a
bit more direction, I’ve republished Apollo’s
First Sonata.
I’ve taken a couple of
poems out that didn’t fit and felt incoherent to anyone who wasn’t me (just
what did I mean by “don’t close your eyes over me”? And no one but me knew For The Blackest Quill was about
Geoffrey Rush’s portrayal of the Marquee de Sade in Quills). Some of it just
seemed like exercises in rhyming and eloquence- because basically that’s what
it was. The rest is still pretty decent. I still fear people will misinterpret
the playfulness of Apollo and the Nymph in Said
Apollo to his Muse, but at this point I’m not going to add another stanza
to make it 100% clear that the Nymph is interested in Apollo; she spends the
poem holding her power by teasing Apollo until he’s forced to be honest instead
of lavish, and listen to her instead of spouting what he thinks she wants to
hear. It's still one of my favourites.
Maybe someday I’ll do another
poetry book. One a bit more
eloquent, a bit more mature, a bit more well-rounded. The poems in this one are
by no means masterpieces, but they remain the product of a quiet, thoughtful
young man who was just learning how to express himself.
