Helping the Jailhouse Rock!
That title above, is the second line in the title to a play I am working on. And you could read more about it in my last blog entry at this website. The play will have a great range to it. It should be fun & light and audience-interactive here and there. But the heart of the play will be something of the heart of Rumi, Hafiz, Carl Jung, Michelangelo, and yep— Elvis, who sang that song: Jailhouse Rock.
What is the jailhouse to a soul? I think it is our body. Our bodies that can be so intertwined with the earth in a long winter it might seem. And intertwined so much with our past, and maybe possible future events, and current political insanity stuff — that the eternal spring of the soul, our magnificent luminous sovereignty is veiled, so veiled., to where we can feel so far from rocking— we know tears. And can know unkindness to our self and others!
Sitting on the couch with Carl, and Rumi & Hafiz and Michelangelo & Elvis. Letting them caress you. How can that not help a wing unfurl and— taste more of the Sky!
As mentioned, in the blog entry before this one, it will just be a one man play. And I plan to only script the first five or six pages, and then basically go impromptu, free-range chicken! And with having really, I feel, so much I could say— from a lifetime of work that has reached literally millions in the world; and thus so many stories. I could see this play being a hopeful unique series, that keeps trying to help us laugh & dance!
Right now I see these being my opening lines in the play. They go: from studying & working with for many years— some of the greatest poetry ever written, I have learned that words can be a great lover. Words can be a wonderful teacher, and a vital & fun buddy! In short: they can help —the Jailhouse Rock!
Now I am gonna get more subtle, or something like that, and say: so I will do my best to get your inner hips moving on your own Ed Sullivan show. On our own TV series as it were, in which we all try and star the best we can. A show, series, film that you are always a witness to: of your own thoughts and words and movements; reactions! Dreams.
Elvis first appeared on the famous Ed Sullivan Show, in September of 1956. Which then increased the fame of Elvis— gobs! Though his moving hips got “censored"; well it was 1956, on a Sunday night after church, for so many.
He sang “Don't Be Cruel” and “Love Me Tender.” Elvis was 21 years old at the time. "Don't be cruel" and — "love me tender." Isn't that what our eyes really say to anything we look at?
And I should admit to having never been a real Elvis fan, well never in a fan club; but sure grew up with him in ways. But thought I best learn more about him for this play. And I have.
My life with Hafiz & Rumi, especially Hafiz, has really been at the very heart of my life in the world. And what I have tried so hard to put my soul into and make beautiful, of utility, frolic— even Zenish at times. And sure Rumi & Hafiz could have been great Zen masters— and I bet very much were, now and then, especially for close ones.
Hafiz has been rightfully called: a sweet, playful genius unparalleled in world literature! Ralph Waldo Emerson was a tremendous fan of his! Goethe remarked: Hafiz has no peer! And the famous composer, Johannes Brahms, put Hafiz's verse to music. It is believed Hafiz passed away around 1390, some 120 years after Rumi.
And CJ, Carl Jung. There are so many ways I can talk about him, and will at times. And therapy: who isn't in that—until one is enlightened! Thus, I am still so often sitting on Carl's couch.
Yes, words can be a great lover. They can be a wild sun, and the moon's soft light, and the mountains caressing us. Words can be the song from a bird, that helps unfurl your love. Or a pinch on your fanny from Buddha. So will do the best I can tonight — with the touch, with the touch in sounds & images!
A pinch on a fanny from Buddha! No wonder that cow jumped over the moon, laughing! And waves to us to follow! "Waves at us to follow!” Isn't that the essence of great art? Or at least it says, "I am an oasis, rest awhile! Then begin to more applaud, more applaud your wondrous self!"