The Drum

I remember when I was a little girl, sitting on my Daddy's lap and listening to his heartbeat. I was so fascinated by that drum in his chest. And I remember being afraid that it would stop.

"Yes! I love the drum, there is something primitive about it, primal, it resounds with the human heart. It speaks with sympathy to our human condition. It gives us power, impetus, dance, dreams and life. All these tunes were driven by drum beat, along with other ambient sounds and instrumental melodies adding emphasis and a musical narration keeping energetic interest alive." - - Part of my review on Jamendo about this wonderful album.

My Girls

The Lovely Lucy

Gorgeous Sylvia

And here is some ambient music. Cat music, puts you to sleep, nice, gentle.

WOLF

"Wolf" is still unfinished and I will post him here when I am done with him.

The strength of the pack

is the wolf. . .

. . .and the strength of the wolf

is the pack.

--Rudyard Kipling (Author)

4-9-93

There are mists that grow

about the spiral

of the trail

Standing tall above the

silent forest

Where the eagle slides

At the crook of the river

and the river falls. . .

Is a cliff of crystal

and a silver wall

Here the eagle flows

beneath the planet's halo

And the stars that glare

flare

and die in the water

And lifting wings

I join them there.

Chickadee, Chickadee

Don't you cry

for me.

##

6-1-93

To My Nieces

Golden hair flying

She dances for me,

her blue eyes intense

      like the heart of the flame.

The youngest is four

and she will not accept

sausage

in her macaroni and cheese -

--and she wondered for me

why I married that man--

her small hands pat my

knees as she tells me

a joke

which she gets all wrong

But I must laugh

or risk a wrinkled brow

--I tease her

when she knocks over a chair

and she worries

because she is not sure-

but she cares...

We drew chalk pictures

on the driveway,

Her sister draws

dark blue hopscotch patterns,

I draw ladybugs,

butterflies and kites.

She draws intensely,

a geometric shaped

like an Escher print,

all wrong

My house - she claims -

With me on the roof

and a lamp -

          Our chalk drawings

          dissolve

          in the rain

     - We used all the chalk -

We play games

her sister and I

And she falls asleep

On the floor

Her face serene

to the sky

like a princess

in a fairytale. 

## 

I cannot resist sharing this album - I love these sweet voices and these great Irish tunes:

  

Golden summer is over

But promising new day

A rainbow across the sky

Points an end to the gray

In the beating tide

Of the birds on wing

Is a whispered promise

Of the coming Spring

Beyond the rising storm

Shines a sun of warming gold

Always there

Ever near

##

Through the wind

I hear the sigh of God

His soul apparent

In the Morning Star

I see His face

On the wings of the Eagle

The taste of the grape

Is His hope and grace....

In the still of my heart

At the twilight of summer

Love plants a seed

And grows for the winter.

##

 Wind bent boughs to sodden earth;

Winged singers flee to cloud top;

Golden beams reach aslant

Seeking home on earth. . .

Crystal light ascends, descends

Abounds, releasing flashes of 

Heavens colors.

Perambulating objects obey the dictates

of the wind;

Movement but not life

Excused to whimsy.

Sounds of rustling, murmering,

Lifting and falling

Creaks, groans, laughter, sighing

Roaring;

Who speaks announcing Storm?

##

Some beautiful music to listen to and enjoy.

Teaching Animation

My new unit at school is all about animation. We are using "Stykz" to create a short animation to share. Here is an example:

I am listening to this incredibly beautiful album right now and want to share it. I think it has spiritual healing properties:

Its a beauty - huh?

Link to my Latest Favorite Jazz Albums:

Latest and Favoritest Jazz by Orangeupurple

I listened to this music all day today - what a mellow day :)

A Couple Less Grim

October 23, 1980

                    Marigold war in the yard

                    Evening falls

                    While children laugh

                    And leap

                    In the twilight's

                    Graceful sweep.

                    We seek in the darkness

                    Bits of gold

                    To toss at each one's

                    Flying hair.

                    The smell of marigolds

                    Scent the air.

                    We lazy down

                    In Autumns unmowed grass

                    And swing feet

                    In precision sweeps

                    To the musical clouds

                    Flowing out from within.

                    Deep sea sky lowers

                    And Mother calls us in.

##

I wrote this poem today to describe a small adventure and the impact it had on me:

I walk down to the corner bread store

in the breeze whipping

my hair,

and the maroon and gold leaves

tumble behind my trail

as I walk past the marsh

in the hollow;

and the geese and the chickens

in desperation

run for cover,

wings flapping, rowing,

as they dive under the fir tree's

beckoning boughs

...to the dark,

comforting cave of cover

where they peck for the bits of

life sustenance.

I see the hawk

circling in the distant sea of gray

looking in vain;

and the chain on the deserted

flag pole

snaps and flaps

as it tries to escape

its boundaries.

##

Persson is another artist on Jamendo and one of my favorites. This is what he said about this album: "This is my second solo album and it's recorded in 2007. The tune "Trouble on Monday" is dedicated to my music friend Thommie Johansson who died in 2004.

On You Tube there is one music video of the tune "Blues for a soldier." A tribute to the people and the soldiers of the war of Vietnam."

Another one of my dark poems written in the 90's:

The child
sponge thing
slips through liquid
absorbing
is accomplishment
is creation
          creating improbabilities
the ape gone mad.
The butterfly stumbles
in the summer breeze
trees collapsing
sour winds blow
over cluttered brown waves
A call
a lonely call
the last creature stands
            beneath a crumbling ledge
            Where once there were swallows

The child stands alone
on his conquered earth
he has won--not won
An ape gone mad
and the smoke
burns his throat

##

I was just recording in this (the previous) poem my frustration at what we are doing to our earth. I think at the time, I wrote this,  I was annoyed about the rain-forests in South America and elsewhere which were (are) being deforested for the sake of the beef eating world.

This poem was written in October of 1994, reflecting on the death of my mother:

We are not ideas
     But ideas move us
We are not hope
     But hope redeems us
We are not forgiveness
     But forgiveness frees us
We are not pain
     But pain strengthens us


Life reflected in
     electrified mud
Becomes dissipated
     releasing its air
Memory becomes winged
     and dies at the end
     of the last generation.

##

November 1, 1998 - I wrote this one to lecture myself:

A candle in the dark,
A star on the windy sky
I tell a broken bird
                 "reach high"
                 fly. . .
No more the victim
Always the rising star
Everything you can be --is
Everything you are.

##

April 4, 1993 - Who knows why I wrote this poem - perhaps I was watching the night sky as a depressed person with just a little hope:

The most powerful beings in the Universe
             are the stars
Who
Are overwhelmed
               Diminished
By the Darkness - The Black
That Kills
Yet accentuates
The dancing glories - In all their colors
The Black
Which frightens away
All the sparrows
And so the
            Song
Is from the Stars. . .
Does she see
Does she see me
In the Dark
Dark Black
Does she hear my song
In all its raw denial
                 Acceptance
Where does she fly
In all her glory through the night's
                 Universal
Specks of nothing
freckles on the face of God
Star so strong
Autonomous star
Dancing with her sisters
Across the raw painful night
When will she see me --
       and stop her flight
Except
       the dark
       hides my plight
And I am diminished
       by the night.
And if we should somehow succeed
In meeting
Before the Dawn
Perhaps she would
                    take my hand
                    in her strength
                    Call me friend
                    of beauty
                    lover of stars
And
     together
                 we
Blaze in glory
Across the Darkness
             of the night.

##

And here are two more poems written also on April 4, 1993:

The People running on
                                the frozen ground
The rain is coming down
                                in sheets of ivory
The singing echoes round
                                on paths of flashing
And daisies flattened in the grass
                                from dancing
The dark devours the lonely
                                glistening soul light
The night descends in globs
                                of ancient blight
The people running on
                                the ragged lava
The fire coming closer
                                from the sky well
The sorrow flings around
                                in shades of passion
And arrows flight
             across the night
             descends on target
             in its purple sight.

##

This one is called "Turquoise" :

There is no life in the
                         Turquoise sea
                         no life to be
Aware of the coming dawn
The mud has soaked
        away the flight
And the souls of the
        birds of the deep.
                         And they weep
For the ever present salt
                         in their wounds
They are stymied
For the weight of the mud
                         in the turquoise sea
Presses them down
                         beneath the brown
And the fear is there
                        forever where
No song is sung
Or laugh is rung
                        Deep beneath the turquoise sea.

##

This jazzy album is one of my favorites on Jamendo. The band had only this one offering for us but it is quite good: