Working Gal Rock and Roll Poet: Let’s Be Animals (Naturally, Instinctively!)

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Let’s Be Animals (Naturally, Instinctively!)

Let’s be Animals
and deal with bullies
instinctively
Let’s be inspiration
with our imaginations
naturally

Dream of bliss like big cats
Our bodies’ blessed thin or fat
cuddling and slinking
even if you’re snoring
If we get disrupted,
a little growl gets us respect

Let’s be Animals
and deal with bullies
instinctively
Let’s be inspiration
with our imaginations
naturally

Go Reach up like giraffes!
You know about going high
someone’s low let us sigh
Let’s hope they realize
We’re in a place to herald
ways we can see the whole world

Let’s be Animals
and deal with bullies
instinctively
Let’s be inspiration
with our imaginations
naturally

Even fast Impalas
their nirvana together
Staying very close
running across those dirt roads.
Living true like fresh veggies
Aware of their own beings!

Let’s be Animals
and deal with bullies
instinctively
Let’s be inspiration
with our imaginations
naturally

Let’s laugh like hyenas
Listen hard, they’re not crying
knowing each other.
Protect, watch one another
Every noise makes them unique
You know, let’s laugh together.

Let’s be Animals
and deal with bullies
instinctively
Let’s be inspiration
with our imaginations
naturally

We fly like the parrots
Letting us know they’re starlets
They make great messes
They teach us to say Stop! Enough
‘Cause they tell it like it is
Let’s speak up when it gets rough

Let’s be Animals
and deal with bullies
instinctively
Let’s be inspiration
with our imaginations
naturally

My book is called THE LEIGHTON EXPLOSION, which is a title I've played with throughout my entire adult life. It's based on The Music Explosion who rocked with a favorite song, "A Little Bit Of Soul." It's optimistic, and self-empowering, which is a quality I love in art... Three things have been constant in my life—- writing, music, and animals. Likewise, I've adapted the words to Frank Sinatra’s hit, “That’s Life.” I sing, “I’ve been a poet, a pauper, a publicist…. up and down…..” My poetry book, The Leighton Explosion (Soul Asylum, Canada) shows my range of emotion and different interests, especially rock music. My publisher Ken Cowle says I “made him laugh.” Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson, who writes the book’s foreword, praises my “lilt” and “personality” in an encouraging note. While I usually work as a music publicist with musicians including Jethro Tull, Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius, Sharon Katz & The Peace Train, and Michael Veitch, I've also made money from my poetry. This includes the Grammy-nominated album, Healthy Food for Thought: Good Enough to Eat, (Audio & Video Labs) with me reading my poem “Feed Your Parents Well.” My poems have been published in The Indie Collaborative’s “Holiday Program,” “The Literary Parrot Anthology,” “Elephant Journal,” “BOG GOB,” “Powerline,” “the Aquarian,” and “Nickel.” I've performed live at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and Peter Max’s Studio. Some of my plays have been performed live—one by the Poets Repertory Theatre of Long Island and another by the San Antonio Living River Church, and at New York City’s Howl Fest. My other books are Paws For Thought: How to Understand What Your Cat is Thinking (Rockwell Books, UK), Using Your Art & the Media to Comfort People (Free To Run Books, West Hills, CA), and the self-published e-book, Get the Gig (Common Sense Career Consulting). I recently started producing pop music singles, which can be heard at soundcloud.com/leightonmedia/sets/anneleightonsongs.