the pursuit of love (found poem)

A chord will emerge from the guitar
       either quickly or slowly;
 notice whether any part of the sound
 dies off sooner, or lingers longer, than another.

This is basic information
             that you won't get
       if
someone is playing whole songs;

 listen 

for basic volume and 

presence;

a chord will emerge
from the guitar

either


quickly

or                               slowly;


                     listen for some degree of separation:
 that is,
    you may be able to hear each note.
Or        not:
the        sound may be fuzzy or cloudy
 and lack focus;

 most chords will last
 six

to                      twelve

seconds;

 that gives you a sense of systemic sustain:

 pay attention
        to
    the quality of sound --
that is,
               whether it's                   warm,
 sweet,            tinny,            rich,        live,
fundamental,                 shallow,           breathy,           open,
 held back,                and/or
has           lots of                            overtones;

 is there compliance of response?
That is,
                      do you have to push the guitar
             or
does it respond easily                  to your touch;

 listen

to whether the sound
is
bass-heavy          or treble heavy,

 or well balanced;

 and whether the strength/presence of each string is even;

 and whether there are any  wolf               tones
 (i.e., problematically louder or quieter notes)

 and whether the guitar really plays in tune or         not;

 and whether the sound is good close-up,
and/or from across the room
 (you'll need a playing/listening partner for this);

 and whether            the guitar sounds      different
depending on               whether you're listening
from in front        of it
or
 from off to the side.

Some guitars      will astonish you
with how narrow
 their area of projection              is;
 and whether or not
                  the guitar
 has good dynamic                        range;

 that is,  
whether can you get different quality of             sound
from playing very softly,
 softly,
 medium,
harder,
and/or
really hard;

 if you repeat          these exercises
with             different chords
up and down the             neck
 you'll get a sense           of how evenly
 (or not)
 the guitar plays on       the whole fingerboard;

 be on the lookout for      tonal bloom;
that is,

whether the sound comes out
immediately
at full volume or
 
whether it integrates
and gets louder before it begins to wane;

 finally,
 you get to notice
               and decide
whether and how much
 you like or dislike
 any of these qualities of tonal response
 in the guitar you're playing.


                          Ervin Somogyi












.

...early on my favorite frost poem

             







                                                                     
                                                                      The Silken Tent

She  is as in  a field a silken tent
             At  midday  when the sunny summer breeze
           Has  dried the dew and all  its ropes relent,
    So  that in  guys it gently  sways at ease,
   And its supporting  central cedar  pole,
That   is its  pinnacle  to  heavenward
    And   signifies the  sureness of  the soul,
         Seems  to owe  naught to any  single cord,
           But  strictly  held by none,  is loosely bound
        By countless silken ties  of love and thought
         To  everything on earth  the compass round,
   And  only by one's going  slightly taut
  In  the capriciousness  of summer air
        Is  of the slightest  bondage made aware.

                                                                                        


                                                                                                      Robert Frost










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a walk down memory lane

 

 

 

 

 

 

#101 "bluehawk?

 

 

for wallace lester

 

late one night
in the early "60s
between sets
at the village vanguard

charles mingus
was holding forth
on the current struggle
for black liberation

& making a lot of noise
when monk walked up,
stood there & listened,
then shook his head

& said to charlie,
"goddamn, mingus,
I never knew
you was black!"

 

 

               JOHN SINCLAIR

 

 

 

 

 

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IN MAKING BODIES LOVE COULD NOT EXPRESS

In making bodies Love could not express
 Itself, or art, unless it made them less.
  O what a monster had in man been seen,
   Had every thumb or toe a mountain been!
    What worlds must he devour when he did eat?
      What oceans drink! yet could not all his meat,
        Or stature, make him like an angel shine ;
          Or make his Soul in Glory more Divine.
           A Soul it is that makes us truly great,
           Whose little bodies make us more complete.
            An understanding that is infinite,
             An endless, wide, and everlasting sight,
               That can enjoy all things and nought exclude,
                Is the most sacred greatness may be viewed.
  'Twas inconvenient that his bulk should be
    An endless hill ; he nothing then could see:
     No figure have, no motion, beauty, place,
      No colour, feature, member, light, or grace.
       A body like a mountain is but cumber.
        An endless body is but idle lumber:
         It spoils converse, and time itself devours,
          While meat in vain, in feeding idle powers;
           Excessive bulk being most injurious found,
            To those conveniences which men have crowned:
             His wisdom did His power here repress,
              God made man greater while He made him less.


                                                     Thomas Traherne    (1736  -  1774 )





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