Apollo's First Sonata Revisited

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.