direct link: Drumbeat

I wrote this poem at the end of January in 2008, and have always wished to record it. Perhaps a year ago I found Chriss Onac's track, TRANSE, a drumming solo, on his album, Tribal, at Jamendo. But until yesterday I lacked the courage to try a recording. It took all day and most of the evening, with one upload and an immediate delete too!

As I push further into experimentation, tweeking, playing, exploring sonic possibilities, I find I am moving from straight poetry readings to more of a performance piece, adding filters to each of the vocal recordings. While I usually layer the same takes with different filters, I also include other takes, which might sound like echoes but actually aren't. Whether this adds a richness to the sonic scape of the piece, I don't know, but that's what I'd like to aim towards. Multiplicities, oh yeah!

In this recording, I did not want a cerebral reading, as is so often the case with poetry, but something primal, with emotion.

Recording it over and over, my window shut tight against the outdoor noise, fans turned off, in the Summer heat I began to sweat, and then let go, shimmying, shaking, drumming with my hands, fast in the air, reciting the poem. There is an emotional pitch in this recording  that I am not sure works, though it does incline towards an element of rock music, somehow (laughing).


Drumbeat

The palm drops
on the inside
of the skin
animal drumming
beating on the drum
drumbeating the night
beating on the eardrum
drum drumming deeply
drawing the heartbeat drumbeat.

My body is the drumbeat
drumbeating my skin
sweating, hot,
drumbeating my body's
percussion, rub, snare,
pounding, colliding of
musical pulses
lyrical sinewy
or staccato modern
or wild shamanic
hair flying
free.

Red shiny satin clinging,
wet
sweat.

The djembe hip bag that I scrubbed, suede dyed to emulate Holstein cow naugahyde, in black and cream, with a wild boar bristle brush and saddle soap because of the dark streaks, smells of animal hide.

I hold it to my nose, and smell. Animal. Hide.
The drumming of the jungle.
An animal skin.

Taut.

Primal beat bounding
resonating, resounding.

You gaze at me, though you haven't looked at me.

I am in your gaze without your seeing me.

It is my hunger you remember feeding,
that you want to feed.
Our heat burns hotly.

Drumbeating
the rhythms beating in us,
the African djembes
dance us.




(click for larger size)






Some of the layers in Drumbeat recording...



Also, Jan wrote that my reading in Drumbeat is "natural force" rather than a "forced oratory in the rendition"... wow, thank you. Love you guys, your generosity is so beautiful. xo♡

_________________
Robert A writes, at Gather: "Brenda - Spikey; meaning very sharp edges where some frequencies really jump out and overwhelm and distract from the other tracks. Looking at the waveform chart, I'm not sure what system you recorded this on, but in most systems (ProTools, Ableton, Cubase, etc) you have the options of using plug-ins, like compression to run over the selected track when you're cleaning up your production at the end. Looking at the waveforms, it looks like you could also get some benefit from keeping some of your levels lower to prevent distortion and that way you can keep some headroom to decide how you want to make the relative tracks work together when you're done. Also, it looks like your panning is all in the same place except one track. If you move your panning to different locations you'll end up with a larger more 3D sound that will make your poetry and presentation more epic.

I'm not the greatest production expert in the world, but you can hear some of my recordings featured on my profile page.

And yes, Annette Peacock is very cool. I got into her when she worked with Bill Bruford."

So, back to the audio programs to see if I can clean up my recording a bit. :)

My response to his comment: "I will study what you've written like an arcane text of magical spells! I use Garage Band... lately into the various filters. I layer recordings, sometimes the same one, usually at least one other, too. I pull track by track into Audacity and work on the levels. Beyond that, I'd be lost.

Compression - meaning normalize? I've used levelator for the voice often, but didn't this time. It certainly boosts the inner, central sound and removes the spikes. And I've run Audacity's normalize too, only not on this recording.

I'll go back to it. Try Levelator on the voice, to see. I find it normalizes too much, and so nowadays I use it, while also layering with an original with its highs and lows. Emotion resides in the highs and lows, at least to my ears.

I've never used panning, ever. Scared to go near it, in other words.

Though delightedly I did use a 'Wandering Voice' filter on one of the tracks, which I really enjoyed. :-)"

Will work on it again over the next few days. What's nice about SoundClick is that you can upload edited versions into the same spot.


                                                        

Sand Is On Fire: a poem ball
a steganographic, hidden poem, wrapped up in disguise
(you'd need PS to unfold, a layered version)




Sand Is On Fire, 15"x13", 38cmx33cm, india inks, soluble
pastels on archival paper, 2010 (actually just now, crazy
inking away on my bed, lucky the open bottle of permanent
ink didn't spill!)
The original -ok, I shouldn't give it away so soon, right?!

In the burning ocean. Where oil spills plumes drag through the world's gloom. Swoop of your feathers. Gloss the rocks. You can't know where we go at night. Or why the morning shines. Or the glimmer of gold before sunset. Relentless tidal cycles. Let me tear at the crests and troughs. Go in. GO IN. Shiver. Sin. Dark water, grey clouds. A rain of black ink falls from the sky. Drips. Rips, slashes the wet heaving page. Heat of sand on fire. Burn the slick, ocean on fire. Coral crevices. Grottos. Invite. Come in, why don't you. Open. Open. Open. Arms reach up. Seeds rain down. Wash the foam. Pray forests. Burning despair of illusion. Fruit of veils to burn in. They said GO IN.

__
Response to Big Tent Poetry’s prompt (where other entries are linked in the comments).



                                                        

Mandalas

                                                        

How Do They Knit a Chain Link Fence.
Always have found 'construction' videos fascinating.


                                                        

to stream or download from the Internet Archives, click this link: Ravishing Light, a Solar Videopoem

Although I posted this video, via YouTube, back in April, I have now uploaded it to the Internet Archives.

After watching many hours of NASA's amazing SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) footage of the sun at the Internet Archives, I downloaded some short videos and from them distilled the clips you see in this video. I am delighted to find this footage and to create a solar videopoem.

A vision of such power that what went before falls away in a rapturous death. A rapturous death of the ego. An unerasable enlightenment. That Rubicon. I was inspired to write this piece after seeing the movie, 'Sunshine,' which also uses footage from NASA's SOHO Observatory.

Prose poem written in July 2007 (also available at the Internet Archives as a separate recording); videopoem created April 2010.

These are the videos I finally chose and downloaded. I used clips from some of them for my short videopoem:

wave- archive.org/details/CIL-10079
SOHO_TRACE_Intro_YouTube- archive.org/details/GMM-10421
recon- archive.org/details/SPD-SOHO-STRIPreconSTRIP
quiet20010310ntscarchive- archive.org/details/SVS-2766?start=4.5
EITflameszm- archive.org/details/SPD-SOHO-STRIPEITflameszmSTRIP
304blow- archive.org/details/SPD-SOHO-STRIP304blowSTRIP
archive.org/details/SVS-3286
EITbulb- archive.org/details/SPD-SOHO-STRIPEITbulbSTRIP
flarezoom640x480- archive.org/details/SVS-2496
helio_fleet_v1.1- archive.org/details/SVS-3570


                                                        

direct link: The Falling Room - Female Acoustic Artists, a one hour show (free streaming and download)


"In this session" of his show, The Falling Room, Halder says: "we are recognizing the contributions of, and paying tribute to, female artists who have created rich environments in the avant guarde and experimental music community."

This is a powerful collection of female acoustic artists. One of my favourite shows of The Falling Room, and of course I'm honoured to be included. The playlist:

Brenda Clews, from Aural Pleasure, 'Meridians of Culture.'
Misha Nogha, an internet release, 'Kashira.'
The Golden Palominos, from Dead Inside, 'The Ambitions Are.'
Laurie Anderson, from Bright Red, 'Bright Red.'
Vonn New, an internet release, 'Otherland.'
Tanakh, from Villa Claustrophobia, 'In Every Villa.'
Elaine May Boyling, an internet release, 'Wish House.'
Space Cat Robot, an internet release, 'Space Cat Robot Suite.'
Lee Ellen Shoemaker, an internet release, 'Ojibway.'
Alice Ping Yee Ho, from Ming, 'Forest Rain.'

This episode of Joe Halder's public radio show, 'The Falling Room,' aired on CFBU 103.7FM on May 28, 2010. His show features experimental, minimalist and avant garde music from independent artists.

Joe Halder strikes me as a perceptive, brilliant guy. From our small correspondence, I understand he engages in conversations with the artists he airs; knowledgeable and inspiring, he has the ability to potentially shape a vision of the independent music he plays.


                                                        

direct link to 1min recording: disappearing

disappear
into a world
of disappearing forms
where figures
refract,
thick viscous glass
melted sand granules

falling into dream

__
Brenda Clews' poetry, voice and mix. Background music, a section from: "Trio for Flute, Cymbals, and Glass" by Matt Samolis - http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/49419


                                                        

Amnesty International calls for security review of G8/20 Summit: "In a statement today (June 27), the organization expressed "very deep concern" that human rights have "suffered considerably" during the protests in Toronto.

Yes, I agree with Amnesty International's questions, reasoning and approach. But would say it's our leadership, our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper himself, who promoted a full-fledged police state for the G8 and G20 Summit meetings. And it is a very dangerous precedent.

I repeat, a very dangerous precedent.

This man must be voted out of office. Don't be wooed by so-called achievements of the Summit meetings - look at he was doing in the back room, to his own citizens, to Toronto, and, by extension, to the country.

We don't mean much to this leader of ours, and if we're troublesome, why he has 20,000 now trained  riot cops at his disposal. Certainly enough of a corps to terrorize a peaceful country.

What if some of those 'perpetrators' of violence in the march were linked to the upper echelon of the Federal government? How do we know in what ways we, the Canadian public, might be manipulated to think certain factions (like the hooded, masked Black bloc mob) are dangerous trouble-makers. I'm not saying groups like the Black bloc mob are not dangerous, but do their antics (only vandalism) justify the operation of a 'police state'?

When I think of Jean Chretien, whose incredible leadership we are still benefiting from in terms of the surplus he left that cushioned this country through the recent recession, and ask, would Chretien have brought out the riot cops in full force with a $2 million budget for security if we hosted the G8 and G20 Summits?

No. Chretien, whatever else he was, was for this country. Chretien's loyalty was to the people of this country. Harper's loyalty, if he has any other than to his ambitions, is to big business, those who bank roll his power. Harper, and I say this with sadness after witnessing the last few days of violence and terror in Toronto, is definitely an heir of Mulroney, only more dangerous because smarter.

And it leaves me wondering what Harper might have acquiesced to to justify the enormous expenditure for what is clearly, after all, a police state in Toronto, if only for a week or so.

Riot police aggressively arrested peaceful protesters at Eastern Avenue yesterday. Since when is the right to dissent a violation of the law? And whose "public peace" were the quiet demonstrators disturbing? Residents in the area said they hadn't know there was a protest until the noise of the police motorcycles alerted them, and the noise the police made definitely disturbed 'public peace.'

A taste of an authoritarian police state to prepare us for what?

Out of taxpayers money rather easily gotten, Harper now has a fully trained and armed select corps of officers.

After all the money spent on this show of force, are these trained men and all their expensive equipment meant to languish? To disappear back into the sleepy Canadian milieu?

This weekend saw armoured tanks in Toronto. Isn't this an over-response to some burned police cars and broken store windows? I remind readers of this article, there was no real run on the fence surrounding the Summit, and certainly no concerted terrorist effort to threaten the world leaders gathered here.

Our right as citizens in a democratic state to dissent, to protest public policy, to offer alternative views and opinions, to gather together in numbers from a few to a march of 10,000 to publicize our protests was undermined by police tactics.

When I say dangerous precedent for Canadian society, I mean dangerous precedent. We might ask in what scenarios Harper's group might consider using this armed force again. And how soon?


                                                        

Direct link to Facebook, where I'm hosting this clip: G20 Protest March, Toronto, June 26th. 
I've made it accessible to everyone.


A clip from some video I took during the march, near the American Consulate on University Avenue. You can see the police have blocked it off to the public (it's on the right in the footage) and the march continues on the other side of the street south.

Yes, that worried and caring police officer was for real. And I took his advice, slipping out through the back streets, re-joining the crowd of protesters later and then avoiding a few spots of conflagration by slipping into walkways and back paths (I lived in the area for 20 years, old stomping grounds) before making my way home.

More violence ensued as the Black Bloc mob hit the streets, igniting a flare to distract (I passed that corner, missing it by minutes), burning police cars, smashing windows of banks and stores.

At the time of writing, it is close to midnight. Where I live in the city it is quiet, except for the constant drone of police helicopters.

All of the G20 leaders are in Toronto, having met earlier. They are safe, I dearly hope. Riots and violence continue through the night at various spots according to the papers.

Most of all, we Torontonians had wished for a peaceful demonstration of our solidarity. A peaceful march would have shown Harper's huge expenditure on security to be a colossal waste of taxpayers money. Out of the 10,000 who marched, the police estimate there were 100 or so troublemakers. They have caused a lot of damage.

Incidents of undue police violence have also been reported.

I don't know what the thrust towards violence is, but it's on both sides. Sadly.

The rally was great. Many people came, even in pouring rain. Our march was strong, caring, determined, and peaceful. Please remember that we were the majority.


a few stills from the video



                                                        

direct link: If I Could Write


for JP

What would I write if I
                         could
                  write?

I reach over continents
                               and
                                       oceans
into the Parthenon
to find you pressing
the shutter on your camera,
the photograph
you sent.

Or ordered chaos,
                          but this is my life.

A leaf swollen with rain.
Sleeping in a hammock
in a barge with hundreds of others
on the Amazon River in Brazil.
Sun shining on metal.
How sentences
                                     fold 
                         in on each other
like white rose petals.

Days pass endless
waves in the lake.

I found her,
a spirit in the forest of the lake
in the Canadian terrain
where I fast for days.
She broke the spell.
Unexpectedly,
in the silvery leaves of the
maples standing in water.

Abandon logic for metaphor.

Speak in the tongues
                                     of the poet.
I burn the fire
on your eyelids
in my soul.

Those Ionic columns in the heat
of your Grecian photograph.

                         Mirrors
to hide behind.
My polished earrings,
necklace of reflective stones,
shirt sewn with tiny mirrors.
See yourself seeing me.

Clouds that form
a grammar of understanding
of the sky.

The wine
that sweetens your lips.
The dazzle of a sunset
the colour of
oranges.

__
Piano solo accompaniment: Roger Stéphane, 'Lointain,' from his album, Picasso, on Jamendo.

Response to Big Tent Poetry's prompt (where other entries are linked in the comments).

The recording, for some reason, took unexpected hours, and yet I feel strange including it and hope it adds to your reading of the prosepoem.