The Wreck of the Burning Light

Did I tell you about watching a group of birds strip the deciduous holly of its berries the other day? Looking through my dirty window and the spider web-covered screen, I could barely see the small birds' distinguishing features, mainly a black body with white streaks on the tail feathers. I'm not a bird expert, having just passed my Bird Watching Boy Scout merit badge requirements when I was a wee teen so don't expect me to recall the bird's taxonomic details 35 years later. I am constantly blown away by the wonders of the universe where I concentrate my senses locally. Watching birds communicate the location of a berry buffet will last me for weeks.

I finished reading that pop novel I picked up off the top of the discount book pile. Now I feel completely worthless, nondescript, monotonous, boring, repetitive, conforming to typical patterns of my genotype. The author quoted books I've just been reading as well as having a main character whose daily habits mirror many of mine. Now I know what it feels like to have your life stolen for literature. It makes me feel useless, as if my life is not my own. Wait! My life is not my own! lol

I have given in to more conformity by this morning opening up the website for WNCW, a radio station in the mountains of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, the area where I grew up and which formed part of my personality (the other part was formed in south Florida). I listen to the web stream of the radio station broadcast, hearing a few songs scattered among the announcements, no different than commercial radio stations, but with different types of "adverts." However, the mountain accents of the radio DJs are familiar to me. Home.

Reminds me of some of the earlier music influences such as Bruce Cockburn and Gordon Lightfoot (thus the title of this blog), balladeers both from Canada, I believe. And John Denver, of course. Yes, I admit I grew up listening to those guys. Some days a simple ballad is enough to satisfy my literary rhythmic needs. Other days, a bit of the Carter Family would tickle my tapping toes. I'm one of those college folk music types, I guess - "smart" lyrics written to match a simple acoustic guitar melody. There's a whole set of music that fits in or around that category, including punk, grunge, mountain, hillbilly, blues, bluegrass, honky tonk, juke joint and others.

Speaking of musical tastes, I heard a memorial service for a deceased older man, who had requested that his young wife/widow read a couple of poems that he liked and some songs he frequently listened to, and then let the attendees stand up and tell stories of the man that they wanted to remember aloud. I told the story of the time he drove through Knoxville, back when it had the reputation of "Malfunction Junction" in the 1970s, when he spent hours and hours backed up on the freeway and swore never to drive through that town again, which he didn't, a reflection of the man's strength in his beliefs. That memorial service prompted me to create my own set of songs and poems to be read/played at my memorial service. I suppose we all want to be remembered a certain way - having a preacher read Bible verses over piped-in church organ music being played in the background is not exactly what I want, although a few old church hymns figure into the service, as follows:

Program of Songs/Poems/Skits to be played/performed at my memorial service

1. Fanfare For The Common Man – Aaron Copeland
2. The following poem written by me, to be read by Ann Plough, if she’s available

These are my skyscrapers

No Empire State Building,
No Sears Tower or
Big Ben.

They shelter me nonetheless.
Tall,
Slender,
Alive –
Here without any assistance from my kind.

I cannot describe the noise rain makes upon their leaves…
-- White noise?
-- Light applause?

They bend to accept the wetness.

If only I had a palette of colors to describe them,
To make up for starving phrases like
“shades of green” and “variations of brown.”

They do not talk.
They speak of time.

Summer showers pass
And now they bend toward the sun.

I’m nothing but a lucky observer –
Fortune smiles upon me –
While standing beneath the treed canopy,
White noise giving way to dripping sounds,
Rising and falling with the passing breeze.

The bluejays call.
A hickory nut plops.
A cardinal chirps.
The finches reappear.

I’d rather scrape the sky with trees
Than touch the clouds with glass and steel.

10th July 2007

3. James Bond 007 “classic” theme – Henry Mancini
4. Requiem. IV. Pie Jesu (B flat major) by Gabriel Fauré – to be sung by church choir member
5. Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss – performed by Eumir Deodata
6. Stardust – Nat King Cole
7. Summertime – Ella Fitzgerald and Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong
8. Autumn Leaves – Miles Davis
9. It Was A Very Good Year – Frank Sinatra
10. The following poem written by me, to be read by whoever wishes to read it

The Artist In Me

The artist in me cannot resist this momentary desire
To put on paper words that burn, words that die, like fire.
The artist in me cannot deny this denial of the work ethic.
What is the work ethic?
What is reality?
I hear people speak of inner worlds and outer worlds,
How one is real, the other false.
I hear myself laugh and laughing.
"We see through the filter of our experience," one says.
"We do not see the lens through which we look," says the other.
The one I heard that said the most:
"Reality is only seven letters."

– 26th September 1985

11. Being Green – Kermit
12. Georgy Girl – The Seekers
13. Downtown – Petula Clark
14. Oh Shenandoah – Tennessee Ernie Ford
15. Carol of the Bells – to be sung by church choir
16. Ave Maria, as set to the tune of Ellens Gesang III, D839, Op 52 no 6, 1825 by Franz Schubert – to be sung by female soprano choir singer
17. Bist Du Bei Mir by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel – to be sung by male tenor choir singer (in the style as sung by Rolando Villazón in the movie soundtrack, “Joyeux Noël”)
18. The following by Deodata
-- a. Moonlight Serenade
-- b. Nights in White Satin
-- c. Pavane for a Dead Princess
19. The following by Chuck Mangione
-- a. Children of Sanchez
-- b. Land of Make Believe
20. L-O-V-E – Nat King Cole
21. What’s It All About Alfie? – Dionne Warwick
22. What’s New, Pussycat? – Tom Jones
23. What It Was, Was Football – Andy Griffith
24. Tea For Two – Tommy Dorsey version
25. Joy To The World – Three Dog Night
26. Poem, “Tennessee Easter, 1998”, written by and to be read by Jennifer Wheelock
27. Brazilian Lullabye – Luiz Bonfa
28. Jerusalem – to be sung by church choir
29. Manhã de Carnaval – Luiz Bonfa
30. When I Survey The Wondrous Cross – to be sung by church choir
31. Preludio Suite 1 BMV 1007 by J.S. Bach – Andres Segovia
32. Ol Man River – Paul Robeson
33. Radio-Activity – Kraftwerk
34. Autobahn – Kraftwerk
35. Albedo 0.39 – Vangelis
36. She Blinded Me With Science – Thomas Dolby
37. Let X=X – Laurie Anderson
38. O Superman – Laurie Anderson
39. The following poem written by me, to be read by David Young

My religion is based on a form

My religion is based on a form,
Neither simple nor complex,
Known nor unknown,
A form that can never be perfected.
The form is based on the shape of a wave,
A wave that completes a revolution,
That revolves around an unfixed position.
The wave does not exist
But its form is imitated by physical phenomena.
My religion is based on a few short words --
Everything goes in a circle.

– 3rd October 1985

40. The following from Philip Glass’s album, Songs from Liquid Days
-- a. Changing Opinion
-- b. Lightning
-- c. In Liquid Days
-- d. Open The Kingdom
-- e. Freezing
-- f. Forgetting
41. Geodesic Dance (Electronic Etude) – Walter Carlos
42. London Calling – The Clash
43. Holiday In Cambodia – Dead Kennedys
44. Conjunction Junction, Grammar Rock – Schoolhouse Rock!
45. She’s A Witch – Monty Python and the Holy Grail
46. Always Look On The Bright Side of Life – Monty Python
47. Rocky Top – University of Tennessee Marching Band
48. Pavane in F-sharp minor, op. 50 – Gabriel Fauré
49. Blue Moon – Mel Tormé
50. The following by John Denver
-- a. Leaving On a Jet Plane
-- b. Calypso
-- c. Annie’s Song
-- d. Poems, Prayers and Promises
-- e. This Old Guitar
51. The following by Barry Manilow
-- a. Even Now
-- b. Ships
-- c. One Voice
-- d. Can’t Smile Without You
-- e. If Tomorrow Never Comes
-- f. The Old Songs
52. Are You Lonesome Tonight – Elvis Presley
53. It Is Well With My Soul – to be sung by church choir
54. The following from the movie soundtrack, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”
-- a. Man of Constant Sorrow – Soggy Bottom Boys
-- b. I Am Weary, Let Me Rest – The Cox Family
-- c. O Death – Ralph Stanley
-- d. Lonesome Valley – The Fairfield Four
55. Morning Has Broken – Cat Stevens
56. When I Fall In Love – Nat King Cole
57. Jonathan Livingston Seagull – Neil Diamond
58. American Pie – Don McLean
59. The Lord’s Prayer – Sister Janet Mead
60. Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring – church choir
61. Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him all creatures here below.
Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts.
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Amen.

62. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from the movie, “Mary Poppins” – Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke
63. Sir Walter Raleigh Tobacco sketch – Bob Newhart
64. Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon and Garfunkel
65. Sound of Silence – Simon and Garfunkel
66. Tennessee Waltz – University of Tennessee Marching Band
67. My Way – Frank Sinatra
68. The following poem written by me, to be read by Mike McGinty, if he’s available

Sleepfulness and Wakelessness

I opened my eyes and the dawn spoke to me in a giant whisper, a sound that hinted of warm afternoons and apples falling onto fresh-cut grass.

I closed my eyes to recall the dreams, the insane fantasies from the inner universe untouched by Time.

My eyes opened or closed, my thoughts see the dawn and the dreams as one. No beginning or end, no infinity in which to hide, both time and timelessness intertwined to form my world, an existence totally apart from me but really me apart from the world; "I" has no bounds.

This world a highway and I a driver asleep at the wheel.

Thank God, God bless you, Goddamn -- God takes many forms.

"Yessir. Just visitin’ this planet. Won’t be here long."

I’m off to dream a world of peace where sleeping forms control.

I’m off to Never-Never Land, never to return.

I’m gone. Goodbye. Goodnight.

– 22nd January 1986

69. Shalom, Chaverim! Farewell, Good Friends – to be sung by church choir and congregation
70. The Lord Bless You and Keep You, with Sevenfold Amen – to be sung by church choir
71. The following poem written by me, to be read by Marsha Hosner

She Sits

She sits
But she doesn’t sit for long
She waits for no one
Others wait for her
No time for her
Because time is meaningless
Words do not touch
The stirrings of her soul

She prepares each movement
Like a tai chi master in meditation
-- The turn of a wrist
-- Raising an eyebrow
-- Sitting in a chair

Listening for the silence between heartbeats
Music only she knows
Folds in her skin deepen
Aging finely maybe wisely

She sleeps
But she doesn’t sleep for long
Trumpets blaring ideas deep within her brain
Push her out of bed
Ideas scribbled on the napkins of last night’s mind
Fade too quickly for human use
Extraterrestrials passing by the planet
Record the thoughts for later dissemination

A purpose for being
Being not the purpose
She moves on
Like water from a fallen bamboo flute into a pond
-- Fish breathing her in
-- Exhaling her out

Discordant sounds of a Qinqiang
Playing up her strengths

The paper bird pales in the sun
And flies away

– 10th Dec 2004

72. Looney Tunes ending with “That’s All Folks” by Bugs Bunny