Friday, January 14, 2011

In the Beginning

Joe Satriani

COME ONE, COME ALL
http://bigtentpoetry.org/2011/01/come-one-come-all-january-14/
We were asked to react to a piece played by the above artist.
 IN THE BEGINNING

In the beginning was the sound.
The only instruments were
The ground upon which water dripped,
The rock against which fingers tapped,
The creak of the branches
One against the other.
Men heard it and were glad.
For rhythm
Was the essence of life itself.
They felt the rhythm within themselves,
And feet began to tap,
Hands to clap,
Fingers to click,
All in time to the rhythm.
Instruments came later.
And the instrument
Most closely recalling
The primitive rhythm
Is the guitar.
For only the guitar reinvents
The primeval accident.
The sharp metallic sound
Of fingers and strings
Interchanging,
Seems elemental and chancy.
The notes are modern,
But, between the notes,
Falls the primitive accident.
Serendipitous sound
Litters the world
In which the Guitarist plays.
*

------------------------------------------------------------------

THE POWER

Not the Dark Ages!
Nineteen-fifty-three.
A hospital in Darwin.
Australia.
*
A young Aboriginal man lies dying
In great agony.
No injuries,
No bruising,
No disease.
*
The young man tells authorities
That he is the victim
Of a 'singing'.
The Bone has been pointed
And he is bound to die.
So he does.
*
No amount of modern medicine,
No amount of supportive care
Could have saved him.
For someone had
Pointed the Bone.
*
Accused of incest
He had fled his tribe.
But a Ritual Killer had pursued him
With The Bone.
*
The Elder had gone down on one knee
Before him.
He had frozen with fear.
It was as though
He were being forced to sip poison!
*
He was a victim of
The Power.
*
Not the power of
The Bone,
But the power of Auto-Suggestion.
*

4 comments:

Kat said...

COME ONE, COME ALL: A nice take on the genesis of musical matters.

I only remember the apples.... the one Eve ate and the other falling on Newton's head... and how it led to sin and science and so forth..!!!

THE POWER: How true.... it's still practised here. With neem leaves the troublesome demons are driven away or someone is earmarked to doom..!!!

Maude Lynn said...

That second one is amazing!

James said...

I love this. I love "between the notes / falls the primeval accident." Awesome. This puts me in mind of AC/DC's "Let There Be Rock" and makes me want to turn the old amp up all the way. Well done.

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