Mad Warrior Poet will be moving soon
Mad Warrior Poet will be moving soon, well, when I get around to it. I've upgraded the blog to WordPress and the The Scroll's The Thing site and this one are next. As much as I love my little blogging app, Thingamablog, I had to make a decision since it looks like it's not going to be updated any time soon and with my new laptop and Vista...Well, I can use the old version, oddly, but not...
Read the full postA little late night verse
I was reading and posting at one of my favorite forums yesterday and the talk turned to love, friendship and romance -- three of my favorite subjects! Seems a lot of folks are looking for love...and a lot of other folks have given up ever hoping to find it. As one who has had her share of experience in relationships -- some wonderful experiences and some awful ones -- I am generally drawn to such threads. And this time, I was really rather surprised by how many folks seem to have given up on love -- and how young they...
Read the full postAshes to Ashes, lyrics to a song for FIN II
July 30: Ashes to Ashes, a song for FIN II...naturally. I can't seem to think about much else these days. There are other poems on the site that deal with this same theme, but the other poems don't really lend themselves to the song form. For the lyrics I cut it down to the bone, down to the barest minimum of words to get across the main idea. I imagine Gabrielle being consumed with one thought in her grief and I think she would...
Nowhere, a song for FIN II
Nowhere, a song for Gabrielle in the wake of FIN II, a song for a soul mate grieving. I continue to be haunted by the heartbroken bard. Listen to Nowhere: MP3 256kps, 128kps, 64kps. Listen to more songs.
You fought for the forty thousand,
look where it got you.
Look what they did to you.
You had thirty seconds,
look how you spent them.
Looked me in the eyes,
and you lied.
Now I ain't goin' nowhere
without the warrior.
I...
On the Battlefield, lyrics, a song for the fallen
MP3 256kps, 128kps, 96kps, WMA 128kps. My favorite TV show is about a warrior who slaughtered innocent and not-so-innocent people by the thousands. She is my favorite character and the tales of her adventures, of her struggles, victories and defeats, fill my dreams and very nearly my every waking moment. Yet I remain ambivalent about war, about the use of violence to achieve salutary aims, and about the dangerously seductive idea of victory by any means, peace at any cost. Far from being annoyed...
Read the full postWaves, lyrics for a song for The Debt I, audio added
Added July 1: Listen to Waves: MP3 256kps, 128kps, 96kps, 64kps. WMA 128kps, 48kps. Listen to more songs.
This scene from The Debt has haunted me since the moment I saw it back in 1997. The show itself gives us Xena's memories of Lao Ma and their days together as the ship carried her toward Chin. But it always seemed to...
Read the full postA Warrior's Song, lyrics, formerly known as Last Waltz
A Warrior's Song: Dedicated in Loving Memory of Kevin Smith, March 16 1963 - February 15, 2002. Listen to A Warrior's Song: MP3 256kps, 128kps, 96kbs or WMA. More original XWP songs by bama. This is a completely new version of a song I wrote in 1999, called "Lay Me Down". I re-worked it once before in 2003, re-titled it "Last...
Rain in my face, a song for FIN II, lyrics
"With the rain in my face and a sword in my hand...", a new song for FIN II: MP3 256KBS, 128KBS, 96KBS, or WMA 128KBS. More audio. Read the lyrics. Visit Raq's World for more stunning graphics like the wallpaper I borrowed to illustrate this song. :) Lyrics below. Written for FIN II, Rain in my face recalls the...
Oblivion, a very short verse for SAC2 and a fan fic
Oblivion is a very short verse, well, two verses, written for SAC2 and also for a character in The Look In Her Eyes, an XWP fan fic. Listen to Oblivion, WMA file. Hear bama bardwannabe barding in her creepy bardy psuedo-Alti voice. *G* My very sore & hoarse voice, and a very tiny delay on the dub, made for a mildly spooky effect. I'm re-doing this one and Spirits of Evil. I'll post 'em when they're ready. Listen to Oblivion, WMA file.
Oblivion, Chant...
Hope Invokes the Spirits of Evil, a poem chant for SAC2 and a fan fic
Hope Invokes the Spirits of Evil is a poem from the cutting room floor, originally written for Hope and another character in "The Look In Her Eyes", a piece of XWP fanfic set after SAC2. Bwa-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaaa! Blessed be! Audio file on the way.
Hope Invokes the Spirits of Evil
Spirits of Evil, Spirits of Darkness!
Fly over the mountains
and down to the sea!
Spirits of Evil, Spirits of Darkness!
They're coming for you,
and they're coming for me!
Spirits of Evil, Spirits of Darkness!
Born of the Fire,
and born of the Blood!
The Ocean Between Us, a poem for The Rift
Ocean arose out of my musings on what our beloveds were going through during the time of the (d)Rift. Hearts are easily torn apart, easily shattered. And healing can take a long, long time. I think Gabrielle would have sat with her quill many a dark night writing her soul onto her scrolls, hoping against hope for love's reuniting. I wrote the following for her, since she is not here to share with us her heart's longings. May their reunion be swift and eternal. (Originally posted on the NetForum in 1998.)
Ocean between us...a...
Leather and Lace, original lyrics for a song for Return of Callisto
Leather and Lace: A song I wrote for Return of Callisto. I wrote this song using another penname, someone else's title, and someone else's image for someone else's characters to sing. And sorta ripped off, er, borrowed an idea from someone else's poem too. Gotta love it. *G* Sadly, the official canon did not allow X&G to grow old together, so this song, though very hopeful in itself, is always very sad to me. I really do love the thought of those two old women, kvetching and griping and arguing together forever! One loooong day in the lifetimes... *Sigh*
...Read the full postHoping Against Hope, a poem and song for SAC2
Hoping Against Hope is, yes, another poem/song for the XWP ep, SAC2. And it's a good thing there was such an ep as SAC2, or else I might never have written a frakkin' thing, donchaknow! *G* I've never recorded the tune for Hoping Against Hope, but I do have two versions of it in my head. The music for the first version, which I composed back in 1998, sounds hopelessly stupid to me now, so I'm working on a newer, if not better, version now. I like it so far. We'll see. Take...
Flawless, a song for Lucy, Conquering
I wrote a song back in the fall when Lucy was on Celebrity Duets, entitled Flawless, a song For Lucy, Conquering. She might not have won the contest, but she certainly won the hearts of countless fans. As if she hadn't won them long before. And the truth is, I didn't actually write it, I sorta improvised it and recorded it while listening to the background music. Then I went back and recorded another vocal over that for the backup part. It ain't perfect, I would never characterize my singin' as flawless. But Lucy? Now, there's a Flawless One if...
Read the full postRunaway, a song by bamaxena, for FIN2
Runaway: Lyrics for a song that was improvised, performed and recorded by bamaxena on the night of January 10 2007.
MP3 256mps, MP3 128mps, WMA 128mps.
Runaway, a song for FIN2
I'm gonna run away,
gonna run away today.
Oh, you said you'd never leave me,
I wanted to believe you.
You said you'd be beside me,
I didn't know you lied to me.
I'm gonna run away today.
You can't make me stay,
I'm gonna run away...
The Moment I Saw Her, a poem and song for SOTP
New audio version posted May 3 2007: MP3 256kps 128kps, 96kps, 64kps; WMA 128kps, 48kps.
"Love enters the noble heart through the eyes." -- Gerhard Hauptman. Quoted on numerous occasions by Joseph Campbell, author of Hero with a Thousand Faces.
Joseph Campbell was fond of quoting Gerhard Hauptman as saying: "Love enters the noble heart through the eyes." I like to think that we saw Love entering two noble hearts at a certain moment during Sins...
Read the full postAbout Writing Poetry, first thoughts on writing poems, on being a poet
I wrote a lot of poems in 1998, during the summer in the aftermath of the XWP season three ender, Sacrifice II. So much of my work came out of that same period of writing, a time when every thought I had revolved around or spiraled out from my obsession with all things XWP. And every line I uttered (or that I heard anyone else utter) seemed fraught with meaning and with meter and with messages from the Muse, telling me to grab my quill and capture those words and the images on my scrolls. For me a poem usually...
Read the full postNights are for nightmares, a poem for SAC2
"Nights are for nightmares" is a poem written for SAC2, or rather, for the aftermath. I really was haunted by that episode, which you can tell by how much writing came out of it, poems, songs, rambling excuses for essays... And a still unfinished piece of fan fic, which, if I do say so myself, had some moments in it which were simply scintillating. And some other moments that were simply strange. And a good many that were both! *G*
Nights are for nightmares...poem for SAC II
Nights are for nightmares,
my arms so...
Her Last Scroll, poems from fan fiction, set after SAC2
Herein lies the further telling of the tale
of the Warrior Princess, Xena,
searching for heart, her Bard, Gabrielle.
Rendered as it was found
on an old weathered scroll,
this tale that I tell
is the tale that it told...
Thus opened every chapter of The Look In Her Eyes, my (still) unfinished fan fic. I tend to slide into and out of poetry, the poetic form gliding into lyrical prose and back again, and that certainly happened all through The Look. I'd be in the middle of writing a scene when suddenly I'd realize that the cadence...
Read the full postRiding All Night Through the Land of the Dead, my first song for AITST
Riding All Night Through the Land of the Dead: MP3 256KPS, MP3 128KPS, MP3 96KBS, WMA 128KPS. Okay, I loved SAC2 and I loved AITST, but I did crack up when I saw that Native Thracian Shaman whatever kinda get-up Xena is wearing...
The Other Side, for FIN2, WFC, and IOM, a song in progress
Listen to The Other Side: MP3 256KPS, MP3 128 KPS, MP3 96KPS, WMA 128KPS. This is version one of a song in progress, written with mainly FIN II in mind, but with scenes from IOM and WFC whirling around in my brain too. Lyrics for this version are below. Read the related post at bamaverse.com. I've been working on several projects, including several...
Read the full postShort verses composed for the XWP NetForum in 1998
I admit it, I am obsessed with Xena and Gabrielle; with images of darkness and light, with summer nights and starry skies. That's why I used the starry background on the main banners on these sites. The poems in this post are from another kind of star-filled night. Well, a star-filled weekend, actually. It was way back in the summer of 1998 (the summer of SAC2) on the old Universal Studios XWP NetForum when I hosted a festival of poetry called, "Xena Haiku and Any Old Verse Will Do." It was my way of getting more folks to de-lurk and...
Read the full postSong, the Last...a poem for IOM
Song, the Last, from Anthologia (A Garland of Verse) is one of the few things I've written under a different pen name, that of "Liz G. Burton". "Song" was my version of the last gift Gabrielle gave to her Warrior as she lay dying in the Bard's arms in the prison cell in Ides Of March. "Song" epitomizes my view of X&G's deep and everlasting love. A love that knows no boundaries, accepts no limitations, each heart willing to give to, and for, the other, wholly and without hesitation, at whatever cost ... knowing that the kind of, and the depth...
Read the full postRapture and Pain, a short poem for IOM
Rapture and Pain, a short poem for IOM. I had been reading and listening to a lot of Joseph Campbell over the last few years before this episode first aired. Facing, and not only facing, but embracing horrific pain was a constant theme in my reading, listening and thinking. When I saw this scene, something in me was deeply moved. I wrote a few poems for it, including this one below, which happens to be one of the few poems I've set to an image. There is another poem for IOM, a much longer poem, that I will post soon....
Read the full postCouldn't, a poem for SAC2 and Fan Fiction (The Look In Her Eyes)
Couldn't...from an early draft of "The Look in Her Eyes" inspired by SAC II. I wrote this one for the story The Look in Her Eyes, but it didn't make the final cut. It was originally meant for the moment right after Xena read the Bard's last scroll, you know, the letter Gabrielle wrote the night before that fateful day in the temple. (In my Xenaverse, anyway.)
Well, the poem below didn't make it in, but I couldn't bear to just throw it away. *G* I imagined Xena "pacing around and around," half mad with grief, and I couldn't...
Read the full postBriefest of brief moments, In Memoriam, Mom
Briefest of brief moments: "I cried when I wrote this song..." And every time I read it. I wrote it in honor of my mother on the day she passed away. A couple of hours after she died, as a matter of fact. Our relationship was never without a certain and unavoidable tension; we were different in so many ways. But I did love you very much, Mom. There are so many things I wanted to tell you. "I only wish I could have told you in the living years..." bama
Briefest of brief moments...a tribute
Friend, a poem and song for FIN2 and for a fan fiction in progress
Friend, a poemsong for FIN2. And for a tale of the Aftermath. Which at this rate will have to be a musical, cuz I haven't written much prose since I started writin' the music. *G*
Friend
I tried not to try to remember
nights of images, words
and laughter.
But my heart would not let my reeling mind forget.
And that sustained me through all that
came after.
You don't seem to know it,
but you're the Muse for this poet.
Without you, I'd have...
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Darkest of dark nights my soul has ever known, a poem and song for SAC2
Darkest of dark nights is a poem and a song for SAC2. The look in Gabrielle's eyes as she defeated Hope haunted me the way I imagined that it haunted Xena during that long summer of not knowing. Not knowing whether Gabrielle lived or died. Not knowing whether she herself could live without her. I wrote several poems for SAC2, for the warrior in her grieving. My dear friend and fellow nutball at the NetForum gifted me with some wonderful drawings to go with...
Beloved, a poem and song for FIN2
Beloved is a poem and song for the XWP series finale, FIN2. New audio version: Listen to Beloved Jan 7 2008: MP3 256kps 128kps 64kps or WMA. Listen to the original version of Beloved: MP3 or WMA. More Music by bama.
Beloved
Oh my beloved,
Oh my love,
You are the only one
I'm thinking of.
I'd climb all the...
Beauty had been hers, a poem for fan fic, then SAC2, now for FIN2
Beauty had been hers, a poem originally for an as yet unwritten piece of fan fiction, but it turned out to be a poem for SAC2 and later for the XWP series finale, FIN2. In Beauty as a poem for FIN2, I envision Gabrielle once again sitting by her lonely campfire, filled with grief, struggling to find her way in a world where everywhere she turns, she is reminded of the warrior who left her. She writes on a scroll, her hands shaking in...
Ballad for Bard & Warrior in G, for SAC2
Ballad for Bard & Warrior in G, a poem (and also lyrics of a song) for SAC2. Balld for B & W tells the tale of Gabrielle's sacrifice at the end of the episode Sacrifice II. I loved XWP already, but with this episode, my obsession climbed -- no, soared! -- to new heights. A lot of poems, songs and a story (unfinished) came out of this. I also lost most of the members of my "real life" family during this period, and it was also the beginning of the end for what was then my longest lasting friendship. A...
Read the full postAwake in the darkness, a poem for The Quest
Awake in the darkness, a poem for The Quest. Gabrielle awakens from a dream into a nightmare: Xena has died at the end of the episode, Destiny. Personally, I always think of these two episodes as one piece, Destiny and The Quest. I never think of one without the other, two of my absolute favorite XWP episodes. And even though this is the only poem directly associated with the ep, the influence of Destiny and The Quest pervades my writing.
Read the full postAwake in the darkness
Awake...
Ashes to Ashes, a poem for FIN2
Ashes to Ashes is a very brief poem written for FIN2. I was struggling with my own grief right along with Gabrielle. Partly for her, partly for myself. Watching a friendship die is a hard thing to do. Especially when that friend meant everything to you for a very long time.
Read the full postAshes to Ashes
Ashes to ashes
dust to dust
as they did this to you
so did they to us
now all the king's men
and all the king's horses
never can bring back
these stars to their courses.
I promised my love
Ashes, a poem for FIN2
Ashes, a poem for FIN2. Another piece for the Bard in the winter of her discontent. Discontent? That is putting it rather mildly! The Bard's heart is torn to shreds, her soul screams, rages against the dark night. Over and over she has fought to keep the Warrior alive. Over and over the Warrior gave up and gave in, but the Bard was always there to save her, to hold her when the nightmares woke her. To pull her back from the brink when her...
Requiem, a poem for FIN2
(Aug 9: Corrected the link to the image) New, Aug 7 2007: The poem verses are now lyrics. Listen to Without A Trace.:MP3 256kps, 64kps. WMA 128kps. Read the lyrics. Listen to more songs.
Requiem is a poem for FIN2. As I've mentioned before, I am haunted by the look in Gabrielle's eyes near the end of FIN2 as Xena fades from view, from her life and into...
Read the full postReverie, a poem for FIN2
Reverie is one of the poems inspired by the XWP series finale, FIN2. I am definitely haunted by the look in Gabrielle's eyes as her soul mate faded out of her life. Her physicl life, at any rate. We are led to believe, by the scene on board the boat, ship, whatever, that Xena was still present for Gabrielle, if only in her heart. But in my own heart of hearts, I just don't believe that would be enough. Gabrielle would ache with a bone deep ache for the tender touch of her mate...
Introducing bamaxena's new Mad Warrior Poet blog
Exploring the epic journey of XWP through the poetry of bamaxena. Welcome to the new blog, Mad Warrior Poet, where I'll be posting poetry related (mostly) to Xena: Warrior Princess, my all-time favorite TV show and my number one obsession for many years now. The first batch of poems are posted, and over the next few days, all the poems from the old Universal Studios NetForum (the ones I saved, anyway) will be posted here. I hope to write new ones soon. But you never know about such things, the Muse breathes...
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