''
Oceania
Bjork
from the album Medulla
One breath away from mother Oceana
Your nimble feet make prints in my sands
You have done good for yourselves
Since you left my wet embrace
And crawled ashore
Every boy, is a snake is a lily
Every pearl is a lynx, is a girl
Sweet like harmony made into flesh
You dance by my side
Children sublime
You show me continents
I see islands
You count the centuries
I blink my eyes
Hawks and sparrows race in my waters
Stingrays are floating
Across the sky
Little ones, my sons and my daughters
Your sweat is salty
I am why
I am why
I am why
Your sweat is salty
I am why
I am why
I am why
4 comments:
The abominable BP is now running "Friend BP on YouTube" ads in conjunctions with this video. That's about as despicable as it gets.
知識可以傳授，智慧卻不行。每個人必須成為他自己。...........................................................................
Oh Paul, what a powerful lament; yours and Bjork's...
re; BP's utter inappropriateness, its opportunism, its appalling dishonesty... well, yes. More and more I see this shadow, this disaster as an indication that we need more protest in the form of prayer and poetry... Bjork does this here. The rest of us need to find ways to do this, too... And then we have to trust that by layering good upon good and truth upon truth, the darkness cannot - will not - triumph.
A friend recently said this to me, 'It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.' This is true, in part... I believe it's more complex than that, though, and that there are times when we need to both curse the darkness AND light candles. Groves and droves of candles...
I have begun work on a series of paintings (with related texts) in response to this oil 'haemorrhage'... it's all I know to do... They will be love poems to the ocean whilst at the same time an expression of outrage and anguish at the pain humankind is unleashing on this precious planet.
I keep thinking of Yeat's 'Second Coming' - the first stanza, especially...
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
*
Have you seen/heard Bjork's marvelous interview with Estonian composer Arvo Part, by the way? Here is the link... Arvo Part is writing into this time, too. They are our prophets, these most excellent men and women...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pDjT1UNT3s
Warm greetings to you from New Zealand
Claire
wv. preiss - which I choose to read as 'prayer.'
I've been meaning to thank you for your post, Claire. I like this notion of cursing the darkness and lighting candles at the same time. You're right: Why *can't* we do both?
Great to hear about your paintings. Oil has found its way into the new book I'm writing, too. It seems to insist on being in, so it's in.
Thanks for passing along the Arvo Part link. I love Arvo Part's music, and I'm looking forward to listening to this.
Warm greetings to you too!
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