Wednesday 31 March 2010

bird sound words


There is much splashing
& the song
hardens
into many simultaneous
drops

*

1) place names very close together
2) place names very far apart

This follows
the general song axiom
to always be abstract
before being explicit

*

In effect
the instrument's sound flows
indexically to the body's flow

by the singer, whose song
demands confirmation
singling out
one, two
or a number of audience members
who may be provoked
to tears

*

These phrases beg for help
attention
and recognition

and result in a feeling
of sorrow

*

The song had proceeded, hardened
& climaxed; here, at the end,
you are what you call
"home"

-

Adapted from Steven Feld's Sound and Sentiment: Birds, Weeping, Poetics and Song in Kaluli Expression, (2nd ed. 1990) University of Pennsylvania Press.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks dude - the book is fantastic, this is really preliminary ideas for what I hope will turn into a more performative/interpretative/aleatory thang...and listen, did you see the story in the papers the other day about the LHC starting up again? We should get on that shit, maybe do something to co-incide with the grand re-opening of expectations...

    what's your current GPS locations?

    love,

    joe x

    ReplyDelete