Soundtracks

[hillwalker]

SOUNDTRACKS

Kristin Hersh
just for this day
her ‘Sugarbaby’
childlike but obtuse as always
early February morning
watching slanting silver
preen the ruffled rocks
across the loch at Laxford

Francis Black/Black Francis
at his most frenetic
oh I really do believe
‘You Cannot Break a Heart and Have It’
as I slalom down Glen Shiel at 60
hammering the beat against the sun-scorched dash
the empty road quicksilver lifeline

Miles
now that the leaves are turning
while I take another trespass South
spills out his ‘B1tches Brew’ into the dismal mix
of M6 snarled with tail-lights endless tail-backs
day turned night
from indigo to black in one arpeggio

‘Darkness Darkness’
Cowboy Junkies
hear them weave and fray that yarn of bass guitar and harp
and Margo’s melancholy voice
still raw with yearning
measuring the seasons as another vessel’s tilted mast
leans up against the harbour outline

Windscreen misting over
is it just the music
or some other sinister harmonic?

[PrinceMyshkin]

Frankly,

Windscreen misting over
is it just the music
or some other sinister harmonic?[/SIZE]

I dreaded finding out which it was, or coming to the bottom of the hill/mountain /M6 mix you traversed with such dare-devil skill. Masterful!

[Hawkman]

Yep! another good one, hill, though I would suggest making, "Kristin Hirsh" a line on it's own as this would seem to make it conform to the other stanzas. I also don't think you should have split, "As I slalom down Glen Shiel at 60" which is a great line and I feel it's spoiled a bit by being split.

Other than that, spot on. It really rocks. :)

Best, H

[hillwalker]

@Prince - thank you again - a slightly gentler ride this time around, but you are right to suppose that there might be a sting in the tail. There is indeed in the final 3-line verse if you choose to acknowledge it, but I shall leave it to each individual reader to anticipate.

and @Hawk - thank you, my friend. You are indeed right to suggest a slight alteration to the line breaks. It works and I have rearranged accordingly.

Thanks again, H

[PrinceMyshkin]

@Prince - thank you again - a slightly gentler ride this time around, but you are right to suppose that there might be a sting in the tail. There is indeed in the final 3-line verse if you choose to acknowledge it, but I shall leave it to each individual reader to anticipate.

Since Miles (Davis, I assume) is the only one of these musicians I'd ever heard of let alone heard, I'm most unlikely to decipher the "sting" in



Windscreen misting over
is it just the music
or some other sinister harmonic?


I hope someone else deciphers it here or that you're eventually driven to do so.

[hillwalker]

@Prince - being a Canadian (?) I had thought you might have heard a whisper of the Cowboy Junkies, one of Canada's most highly-rated bands (a pleasure, I assure you, if you enjoy intelligent, inspired music - a touch of blues : a touch of 'alternative country'). But I'll admit that Kristin and Francis are both an acquired taste - wonderful as they both are.

There might be a hint to what I'm alluding to in a previous piece I posted here - 'The Saddest Season'. This current poem can be read as purely 'four seasons' from the safe confines of a car - but how it ends is open to speculation.....?

[PrinceMyshkin]

@Prince - being a Canadian (?) I had thought you might have heard a whisper of the Cowboy Junkies, one of Canada's most highly-rated bands (a pleasure, I assure you, if you enjoy intelligent, inspired music - a touch of blues : a touch of 'alternative country').

Actually I have both heard of and heard them, on CD: Am very fond of their song "There ain't no ash will burn" but didn't know they're Canadian!

[hillwalker]

Most certainly - Margo Timmins (singer) and her brothers Michael and Peter all come from Toronto.
But I confess, although I have most of their songs on CD, I don't have them performing the song you refer to (an old bluegrass standard I believe).
And, of course, you did mention Miles Davis in passing. 'B1tches Brew' was so far ahead of its time the ripples are still settling 40 years later.

H

[blank|verse]

Yes, the ending is rather darker, and is maybe something that could be built into the rest of the poem between the stanzas, perhaps, like a second strand of narrative? It certainly adds a different dimension to the poem.

I would have liked a bit more music in the poetry itself - a bit more rhyme and rhythm - perhaps each stanza could be more different to reflect the different styles. (Although the Miles Davis one might go on for a bit...) There are some nice, characteristic touches throughout, though.

I didn't pick up on the allusion to one of your previous poems, but it did remind me of one recently posted by someone else about different books for different seasons; maybe you had that in mind also?

[hillwalker]

@BV- Prince noted in the ending of 'The Saddest Season' an indirect reference to death (the final ferry).
In this newer poem, after choosing a soundtrack for four particular days (one in each season - and each quite different to the remaining three) the final song, because of its title and melancholy nature put me in mind of perhaps someone's final few minutes inside their car - as the windscreen becomes misted from something other than.....
I'll leave the reader to exercise their imagination.
Which is why the darkness only appears right at the end, and would be out of place earlier in the piece.

Thanks for your response and analysis, thorough as ever - and if you are still perplexed about what had in mind with those last 3 lines I shall explain after this poem has slipped down the ranks as it were.

H

[J.D. Sparks]

I love the line "from indigo to black in one arpeggio." Beautiful. For me, that kind of subtly dark, enigmatic imagery didn't leave me too surprised at the last line. (A good thing.) So I thought the ending was great.

Totally useless fact: Cowboy Junkies were the first band I ever saw live.

[MorpheusSandman]

I dunno, hill, I think you lost me in the references of this one and I just couldn't recover. Though bits and pieces jump out as being quite striking I just didn't feel like it took me along for the whole ride. Thought that's probably my failing more so than yours.

[hack]

Miles and Cowboy Junkies, I'd go for the ride.

[PrinceMyshkin]

@BV- Prince noted in the ending of 'The Saddest Season' an indirect reference to death (the final ferry).
In this newer poem, after choosing a soundtrack for four particular days (one in each season - and each quite different to the remaining three) the final song, because of its title and melancholy nature put me in mind of perhaps someone's final few minutes inside their car - as the windscreen becomes misted from something other than.....
I'll leave the reader to exercise their imagination.
Which is why the darkness only appears right at the end, and would be out of place earlier in the piece.

Thanks for your response and analysis, thorough as ever - and if you are still perplexed about what had in mind with those last 3 lines I shall explain after this poem has slipped down the ranks as it were.

H

In which case (re the last part of your response) I'm committing an offense against my own curiosity by returning this to the head of the queue!

[hillwalker]

Prince, since your curiosity is really causing you anxiety then I shall send you a PM shortly.....

JD and hack - glad to hear you enjoyed this, and share my bizarre (some would say) and eclectic taste in music. I would truly be a lost soul without it.

Morpheus - I realised the references to specific songs would be meaningless to those who perhaps have never heard of most or all of the artists involved, which is why I tried to gloss over them as early as possible in each stanza and concentrate on the atmosphere created by each song as a genre rather than as a specific tune.
The innocent playfulnness of spring in the rugged hills, the head-banging pleasure of summer on the open road, the angst of an autumn motorway crawl, and the melancholy of winter parked somewhere on the outskirts of town.
And thanks anyway for a response - at least you trusted my driving enough to jump in the car.

H

[milktea]

This is a beautiful poem. I confess I only know of a handful of musicians outside of the classical and opera realm, so I'm missing out on the subtext here. However, your language and imagery draw me into your world and I can hear the music that I've never heard before and want to be there with you because I can empathize.

hammering the beat against the sun-scorched dash
the empty road quicksilver lifeline

Again, a beautiful poem.

[hillwalker]

Thank you milktea - the aim was to let the poem speak for itself rather than rely too much on the 'soundtrack' so I'm pleased it was partly successful.

[Jesterhead]

This was enjoyable, well written and great imagery, good job.

Especially the 4th verse got a hold of me.

[hillwalker]

Thanks Jesterhead - pleased you found the 4th verse to your liking.

[lallison]

What an awesome poem, and great choice in music too. I found this to be a wonderful tribute to aging music and what it does for us. There are lots and lots of allusions here, I understood quite a few, but I imagine there are a few I didn't get as well. This is both the great strenght and the overall weakness of the piece. It requires someone with similar musical tastes as your own to truly appreciate. Of course, for those of us who appreciate those tunes, each line has a harmony of its own. Well done, mark this one as a lallison favorite.

[hillwalker]

I will - and thanks. Not sure about the 'aging music' connotation though - does that mean I'm getting old??

[lallison]

Not sure about the 'aging music' connotation though - does that mean I'm getting old??

Be careful, once you publish a poem it's no longer your own, and the more expressive you are the more dangerous it is.