Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Wind Rose Poems/Music at Temple on December 7th!

Some of you may remember the Wind Rose poems I was working on a few years back, inspired by the wind compass Italian sailors used to navigate their journeys.  I wrote these specifically for composer Andrew Litts to set to music in a full song cycle of nine poems.  Andrew and I collaborated on Transmutation, performed by Network for New Music as part of the "Dialogues with Darwin" project.

I am very pleased to invite you Philly folks to hear three of the songs to be performed by Temple University's New Music Ensemble on Monday, December 7th at 7:30 at Rock Hall.   I have listened in on the rehearsals and it promises to be an exceptional performance.

To whet your appetite, here is one of the poems that will be performed.  This poem is inspired by the southeast sirocco wind that causes the flooding in Venice. I hope you can join us to hear these words come to lyrical life.

Acqua Alta

-  sirocco (SE)

she dreams the river rises and instead of sinking, she rises with it, 
her red leather shoes make small islands, shoe-shaped ripples,
as she strolls the street which is her street,
the neighbors, her neighbors, framed in their square panes,
paintings entitled, ‘waking’ or ‘brushing her hair’,  remarkably still –
and it is easier than she would have thought,  to walk on water,
where the tree limbs begin their reaching out, and the birds weave
around her ankles like housecats, and from here she can see 
her own house, her own room, a figure at the edge of the bed – 
on her desk, crisp white paper, her pen overflowing with words.

(c) Beth Feldman Brandt, 2014