Poem Of The Week

I am currently dipping into a collection of poems by Seamus Heaney and this one  came into focus - although not included in 100 poems  - although it should be - but from another collection I have of his.



Summer 1969

Seamus Heaney

While the Constabulary covered the mob
Firing into the Falls, I was suffering
Only the bullying sun of Madrid.
Each afternoon, in the casserole heat
Of the flat, as I sweated my way through
The life of Joyce, stinks from the fishmarket
Rose like the reek off a flax-dam.
At night on the balcony, gules of wine,
A sense of children in their dark corners,
Old women in black shawls near open windows,
The air a canyon rivering in Spanish.
We talked our way home over starlit plains
Where patent leather of the Guardia Civil
Gleamed like fish-bellies in flax-poisoned waters.


‘Go back,’ one said, ‘try to touch the people.’
Another conjured Lorca from his hill.
We sat through death-counts and bullfight reports
On the television, celebrities
Arrived from where the real thing still happened.


I retreated to the cool of the Prado.
Goya’s ‘Shootings of the Third of May’
Covered a wall—the thrown-up arms
And spasm of the rebel, the helmeted
And knapsacked military, the efficient
Rake of the fusillade. In the next room,
His nightmares, grafted to the palace wall—
Dark cyclones, hosting, breaking; Saturn
Jewelled in the blood of his own children,
Gigantic Chaos turning his brute hips
Over the world. Also, that holmgang
Where two berserks club each other to death
For honour’s sake, greaved in a bog, and sinking.
He painted with his fists and elbows, flourished
The stained cape of his heart as history charged.

Good Morning

Winter

Another dull winter day
A life that feels grey
Yet the mind does astray
Towards the month of May.

When Spring comes around
To the fresh and lively sound
Of humanity no longer drowned
In the pandemic that so ground
Us in despair like a vicious hound.

Book 3 - Alex Ross "Listen To This"

Alex Ross "Listen To This" (Fourth Estate)




I loved Alex Ross's last book, The Rest is Noise, about 20th Century music, simply because I enjoy such music ever since reading The Wire magazine from 1990. Listen to This, a series of essays running the gamut from Verdi and Brahms to Bjork and Radiohead. What you, dear reader, will get from this book depends on (1) your affinity with the subject matter and (2) your level of music education. Ross is well-educated (obviously), and too often he seems to flex his knowledge to impress his peers and that leaves more pedestrian readers in the dust. It is mostly when discussing classical music that Ross goes over the edge whereas his more contemporary subjects are easier to follow.

It's nice to hear a respected critic cover the gamut of musical styles. Rarely does the general audience look so deeply into contemporary music and with good reason, most of it is shallow and vapid, depending on what angle you come from? Ross picks good subjects though and in fact, I once heard a composer on the radio expounding on the music of Bjork (who happens to be one of my faves).

Ross also covers the deplorable state of music education in the USA, and probably applicable here too but I think he could have done better. In passing, he mentions the academic correlation between music education and academic excellence, and of course, this does not help combat anti-intellectual right-wingers responsible for slashing arts funding in the first place.


The articles are well worth reading, though some (not surprisingly) are on topics of more interest to this reader than others. But that is a good feature in this sort of miscellany. Reading something about a musician or composer in whom the reader has absolutely no interest could (and in this case did) spark some interest, leading to a listen to one of the works in question, and to a broadening of horizons. The first essay stands, which traces a few musical figures through the whole history of "western" music, is of particular interest. It is also demanding, whereas some of the other essays are the non-fiction equivalent of easy listening.

As usual, Ross's writing is a delight; clear, supple, and unusually successful in conveying something about music (so much writing about music brings to mind the quote about dancing about architecture).

In sum, this is a pleasant and perceptive collection of essays by a music critic who is always worth reading. Let's hope that something more major is waiting in the wings.

Wagnerism

Talking of something substantial Alex Ross does have a new book out -  I forgot about it until now - which was reviewed last year in Wire magazine - his substantial 720 paged book on Wagnerism.



So it is definitely on my want to read list.

The Friday Five

1. How much slang do you use?

2. What are your favourite words?

3. How much do you curse?

4. What makes a great conversation?

5. How often do you have "deep discussions?"

Almost A Triumph

I Remember This Rule

Friday Night Grooves

Time for some groovy music -

The Orb - Ghostdancing

Thievery Corporation - Décollage

Gilberto Gil - Palco

Bahia Black - Guia Pro Congal

Sabres of Paradise - Wilmot's Last Skank

ENJOY. 

Good Night