VintageGent’s Menswear Daily

Fade Away and Rumi-nate

(My deepest apologies to Debbie Harry and the rest of Blondie for the hackneyed title.)

The VintageGent-ette’s sister, the Modern Gentress, was almost beguiled by a young man offering her quotes of Rumi. Unlike V-Gette who has a deep appreciation for ancient and medieval lit, the Modern Gentress turned up the Modern nose. “That’s just a bunch of old crap.”  What does she want? A guy to lure her with something more modern? Someone the American Classics, as opposed to the Persian classics, like “Someone’s In the Kitchen with Dinah” just don’t set the mood.

A Gent named Jerry Forman was intrigued, unlike the MG, by Rumi, and the wandering dervish Yunus Emre.  I was previously familiar with Whirling Dervishes, but was completely ignorant of the existence of Wandering Dervishes. Did they represent different philosophies, or with all the whirling, did one have to mix it up and wander once in awhile.  That would make one more of a Stumbling Dervish, if my freshman acting method acting class is any sort of corollary (for the uninitiated, spin someone around 10 times before they play a scene about being confused and the true authentic emotion will come out for sure). I digress.

Getting back on track, Jerry Forman has a nifty site (http://www.RumiPoems.com) that he has been adding poems and lyrics to for folks’ enjoyment. what’s more, is Jerry has composed original music to accompany them (when you go to RumiPoems.com, there are links to “Lyrics,” which are just the printed words. Click on the title of the song/poem and a player opens up for you to listen to them.)  The first one, Spring, reminds me of the slow-paced ballads that mariachis would play, sans the horns and rumba shakers just a single guitar. But that’s just me. Whether you are a fan of Jerry’s styling and voice or not, it is ambitious and way more original than holding a boombox in the window and throwing rocks to get the objet d’affection’s attention.  So, up your game.

He does identify Rumi as a “secularist,” when in fact, you analyze his poetry, he was not nearly so at the time. He did seem to hold a philosophy of the evolution of ego, but his work heavily reflected some sensibilities in the Quran. In fact a branch of Sufism evolved in light of his work. Hardly a secularist and unspiritual, his work takes on more depth in the context and understanding of his belief in God. In fact, his lyrics and poetry has been read in places of worship from Buddhist monasteries to Christian churches. Not bad staying power for someone who penned the paper in the 1200′s, no?

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