TEARS OF A GEISHA - Model: Taryn - Hair, Makeup and Styling by Diva Kingsley - Photography by Cassone

Her Way - Celebrating the Life of Ramona Miles

I received very sad news today of the passing of a very dear friend. We hadn't been as much in touch in recent years, but when we would talk we would always immediately start up right where we left off before and it was like no time had gone by at all. I spoke with her last early this past summer. While she had told me of some bumps in the road of her journey health wise, she was still the upbeat, vibrant, jovially spirited friend from days gone by. Ramona Miles passed away November 15, 2011. I had sent a Christmas card to her and her mother, per usual and got back a letter from her mother and her memorial program. To my fans, you may remember Ramona for her wonderful vocals in my dramatic, audio play Tears and Thunder (1996) where she sang with me on Amazing Grace for the funeral scene and did an awesome acapella version of The Lord's Prayer. Ramona was an amazing artist and I am so thankful to her now, more than ever before, because I will always have her voice as a gift to me, and her friends and family. I have included links to those videos later in this post, as well as a poem for and in memory of her.

HER WAY

a poem for and in memory of Ramona Lavette Miles

Sunrise: August 10, 1968

Sunset: November 15, 2011

You may be gone in the physical, my angelic friend

But you will never be too far away from me

With a steady hand and steadfast devotion to those you held dear

You always were a protector, a doer

When I think back on our friendship I smile, even though

Missing you, tears fill my eyes that I wipe away

Honestly, I want to thank you

For your candor, your laughter and simply, very simply, your way

You just had a style and grace that made you so unique

Set apart from any other I have known really

You were a find so rare and genuine

I knew it straight out, right from the beginning

There you were, laid out and decked to the nines

That first meeting was all about business

But from that point forward we were thick as thieves

Friendship was instant and ones like that you don’t question

Like two spirits moving through this world,

You showed me who I could be and to never feel shame or fright

You told me to embrace all that God has given

And how to seek out and shine that inner light

You always had a presence, an aura …a way

About you, that made me feel welcome

And everybody who we’d meet along that path

Would bask in the brightness of your beautiful smile

You are in Heaven, that I already know

For you wouldn’t have it any other way

I know you will watch over us left behind

Just as sure as tomorrow will follow today

My one singular moment with you that I remember the most,

It was a very dark day for me and I felt like I couldn’t go

I had made myself sick, felt unworthy and filled with nothingness

You took me by the chin and told me I had to do my show

There was no getting out of it,

That I was stronger than whatever negative thing bringing me down

Then you told a silly joke and we both laughed

Turning up a smile that seconds before was a mere frown

You pushed me to always keep going, that was the norm for you and I

It was nothing for you to show me a brighter side, a better way

If something doesn’t work at first, do it again, give it another try

That was just you, your spirit and essence of it; your fabulous, wonderful way

Copyright ©2011 Antonio Cassone

Pictured: Ramona and I out and about celebrating some sort of thing, which is what we would tend to do. A lot of laughter was involved for sure... Good times with a very good friend.

to hear Ramona with me singing "Amazing Grace (Funeral Scene)" from Tears and Thunder go to http://youtu.be/us_xJ95Zps8

to hear Ramona's version of "The Lord's Prayer" from Tears and Thunder go to http://youtu.be/ok9Jf2lhzwo

both recordings produced & engineered by Scott Sumner, The Disc Ltd (1996)

Tears Shrouded in Shards of Debris, a 9/11 Commemorative Poem by Antonio Cassone

Tears Shrouded in Shards of Debris is one of my babies. Sure, I am proud of most of my works, or I wouldn't put them out here for the world to see. This is a special case. The subject is a haunting one for many of us in today's world. The loss of life, the changing of our daily lives overnight and so much points to that one day - September 11, 2001. I feel it is a defining day of a generation, if not THE defining day of it. So, I wanted to write today about the back story behind the poem, some of the elements I used and why I did the recording and video slideshow of it the way I did.

Rarely do I give such insights to my work, because I think it can run borderline between ego and back patting. Neither of which is the case here. As a matter of fact, it is the first time I am doing this because part of the secret to my success insofar as the volume of my works over the years is because I am gung ho for a project, put all in and once it is completed - that is it, I move on to the next poem, voice over, drag show, photo shoot or Getting Ready webisode. To much to do, but given this being such a subject near and dear to me - the back story of how it came about is special as well.

SEE THE VIDEO SLIDESHOW OF "TEARS SHROUDED IN SHARDS OF DEBRIS' HERE.

Last year, to the day, I was sitting at work - depressed - because September is just a bad month for me. It used to be lovely, with Autumn on the horizon, my mother's birthday was on the 4th and it is usually a time of new beginnings i.e. school starts, activity changes around because of it, et al. Now, I live in Florida - so, what is Autumn? My mother had since passed away before 9/11/2001 and then there is that tragedy. That week in September is usually quite a downer for me. So, as I sat there at work... I got to thinking about all of it and well, I actually got inspired.

Usually, I will be joking around with a friend in conversation and while talking we'll end up saying something like, 'look at the tall trees in the wind, they are really going at it.' Then *light bulb* I will, like clock work, say something like 'ooh! Tall Trees in the Wind - I feel a poem coming on!' And then I will go write it. I was sitting there talking to my friend, Katy, about all that was going on in my little head.

I always internalized 9/11. Yes, I watched the news reports, was horrified by the images and all the repetitive news coverage - seeing those images over and over again - I will admit, prompted some nightmares. Then, in my depressed state I would go further and wonder what that must have been like for those people in those final seconds, seeing where they were going to, or seeing a plane coming at you, or those who had to decide to jump or not, then the overwhelming sensation of loss and wonder those they left behind must even still experience. Why? I am sure that question still has yet to be answered to many. Nothing. No cause, no belief and No - Sorry, there is No God I know of that would want such destruction done in their name - no matter what name you give It.

But, then, as I shared with Katy, as we chatted over our little job folders - it is as though the grief process was stolen away because of this constant, almost stabbing media coverage. Not to mention, the fear that has been ingrained into our collective subconscious. Post 9/11, you'd better believe people think differently, look at so much with different sets of eyes - and almost overnight. I considered all that media intensity and fear provoked by it, the government, the 'strange looking' person at the store - all of it debris - and I said... 'our tears are shrouded in shards of debris' - and well, I ran with it. I felt a poem coming on. Rarely does anyone witness that light bulb go on for me, but Katy was there - and actually her excitement and interest with what I would come up with made getting through writing the poem very easy.

I thought about it for about 15 minutes, running rhythms and phrases through my head. I wanted it to rhythmically start slow - kind of like that normal, everyday work day would start then slowly build on that rhythm. I wanted to convey the emotional stress, fear, that panic feeling those victims must have felt in their final moments. In my post 9/11 nightmares, I would have a recurring visual being outside of myself - like I was there to see something, but able to go on and tell a message - that is where in the poem I speak of shards of debris coming at me in fierce fashion and "like minute pieces of glass cutting me, as my jagged flesh tears away." Ahh, such a terrible nightmare, but words and time do heal ...some.

It took me 15 minutes, one sitting and a simple conversation with a friend to put 8 years of thoughts, nightmares, fears and hope onto a page. This past summer, I included the poem in my book Blue Sky: ...Writings for Steven and Other People I Have Loved for So Long. I included it because these people have their place among people I have loved. Goodness knows, I have prayed for them and their families a great deal. I can't even imagine and sometimes, if I think about it too much, it really takes me to a very dark place.

In the recording, I chose elements in sound to keep with the flow I wanted rhythmically. Far from being a song, my recordings are more so sound mixes. Visually, for the video slideshow, I did want to use images from 9/11, but I mainly wanted to use my own photography and I wanted to visually focus on those who died, their deaths and celebrated lives, the hope and forgiveness, as well. Flowers seem to do that for me on all of those levels. My grandmother always joked that she hated getting flowers, because they reminded her of death too much. That argument had some weight, but they also reflect so much of life and love, hope, forgiveness and even renewal. So, mainly I used my images of various flowers. Only in the intro did I feature flashes of images from that terrible day. I feel that there is more than enough material out there that show, even seem to glorify, those frightful images from that day. I wanted to concentrate on the beauty of hope, remembrance and renewal.

Tears Shrouded in Shards of Debris,

a 9/11 Commemorative Poem

Though not a victim, not a fatality, not even a relative
Feelings of the most incomprehensible loss overcome
It is as though our collective breath took pause
For a moment, it seemed like we were outdone

Since then, emotional distress takes me over
The edge of nevermore, consuming any kind of thought
Imagining what so many went through in just a moment
Fear cloaked in tears get me right about my throat, caught

My heart races in a panic, as if trying to escape
From what …and why run from whatever destiny
Outer demons had in mind for those who died
The children, the women, the heroes…

Never forget that fateful September day
Like minute pieces of glass
Cutting me as my jagged flesh tears away
So many lives destroyed within a flash

Damaged, I hear the cries in the darkness
The shards of debris come at me in fierce fashion
Splicing and thrusting forward in my nightmare
A nightmare that was a reality

Crashing thunderous downward
Nowhere to run
Nowhere to hide
Wondering, waiting

Awakened from this recurring incubus
Going on in our daily lives
Through the wars, during the constant fears
Provoked, driven, cursing evermore into subconscious

Took many summer days to strive forward
Long autumn afternoons remembering what once was
Cold, dark winter nights; shivering in the storm
And after the storm, springs hope anew

Breathing in a sense of survival
A willingness to carry on
A belief in all that is right and true
A promise that again today can lead to tomorrow

We have to continue to come together, to commemorate,
Celebrate the lives of our lost brothers and sisters
And come through and look into each others’ eyes…
Each others’ faces …and see you …and me

Copyright 2010 © Antonio Cassone - All Rights Reserved

from the book, Blue Sky: ....Writings for Steven and Other People I Have Loved for So Long

See this book and others at Antonio Cassone's Author Page at Amazon by CLICKING HERE.

Tears Shrouded in Shards of Debris - a 9/11 Commemorative Poem, by Antonio Cassone

Tears Shrouded in Shards of Debris

Though not a victim, not a fatality, not even a relative
Feelings of the most incomprehensible loss overcome
It is as though our collective breath took pause
For a moment, it seemed like we were outdone

Since then, emotional distress takes me over
The edge of nevermore, consuming any kind of thought
Imagining what so many went through in just a moment
Fear cloaked in tears get me right about my throat, caught

My heart races in a panic, as if trying to escape
From what …and why run from whatever destiny
Outer demons had in mind for those who died
The children, the women, the heroes…

Never forget that fateful September day
Like minute pieces of glass
Cutting me as my jagged flesh tears away
So many lives destroyed within a flash

Damaged, I hear the cries in the darkness
The shards of debris come at me in fierce fashion
Splicing and thrusting forward in my nightmare
A nightmare that was a reality

Crashing thunderous downward
Nowhere to run
Nowhere to hide
Wondering, waiting

Awakened from this recurring incubus
Going on in our daily lives
Through the wars, during the constant fears
Provoked, driven, cursing evermore into subconscious

Took many summer days to strive forward
Long autumn afternoons remembering what once was
Cold, dark winter nights; shivering in the storm
And after the storm, springs hope anew

Breathing in a sense of survival
A willingness to carry on
A belief in all that is right and true
A promise that again today can lead to tomorrow

We have to continue to come together, to commemorate,
Celebrate the lives of our lost brothers and sisters
And come through and look into each others’ eyes…
Each others’ faces …and see you …and me

© 2009 Antonio Cassone - All Rights Reserved