The Elkhorns, across January Inversion . . . | buy this photo |
On the road in the American Northwest.
The Elkhorns, across January Inversion . . . | buy this photo |
On the road in the American Northwest.
Here is a little set of seven 37-step poems which dances
around the theme color, especially color in mountain winter.
In order for a variation form like this to really work, one
needs to do them in sets or sequences. Try reading them out-loud
to get a sense of how the rhythms and accents change in surprising
ways while still keeping to the basic 37-step pattern.
You might well be wondering, "Well, why 37 and not 50 or 100 or
17 steps (as in Haiku)?" I can only say that it's the smallest form
I've been able to come up with that has a potential center,
a point around which the all the sounds of the little poems
turn. This particular sequence was written especially for
a musical piece I have in mind for Mezzo-soprano & OCTET:
COLORS
(I)
Red means life, as well
as death; it means against
a background of black: pay careful
attention.
Red is love, is sex.
Red means: You! Get ready for change!
(II)
Blue is the color
of cool reason, of balance, of
contemplation. The temple of
peace has no
color, although some
say that blue may show us the way.
(III)
Green is growth, not of
money, but of meaning, of leaves.
The shepherd's wife wears green in spring.
Flowers tendaway from true green,
but then, they don't last quite as long.
(IV)
Pink is the color
of nurturing hope, of the stars
reflected in a young girl's eyes,
of balloons
released atop a
snowy mountain, lighter than air.
(V)
Azure is the color
of the sagebrush steppe at sunsight.
O sky! Thin sphere of life above,
more mood than
color, more warning,
admonition, more prophecy!
(VI)
Fiery orange-red of
the fortissimo of Varèse,
the pianissimo violet
of Webern.O movement of sound,
An arched rainbow bridging extremes.
(VII)
Snow is not white; it
is a thousand colors, none of
which have a name, save the
sugar white
of touristland; it—
is melting away as we speak.
II.12.2009,
Snow Wiki Camp,
Eagle Cap Wilderness,
