The History & Appreciation of Classical Music

Posted on October 31, 2008 by marcbeaudin

First there was Bach. Then came Mozart. And later, there was Beethoven. And a bunch of other guys were thrown in among them. Brahms and Paganini, most notably.

In all of western music, only jazz comes anywhere close to classical’s ability to hear and translate the voice of God, though in the best jazz, it’s more the voice of the Devil, yet no less sublime. Paganini and Mingus were fluent in both languages.

When you go to a symphony concert, don’t try to sit up front: those seats are reserved for the people with too much money to need to really hear the music. The front row of the first balcony is the best: here the sound is at its most full and balanced. And no one will be able to turn around and see your tears.

And always remember: Cabernet for pieces in a F, C or G; and Merlot for D and B-flat.

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Those Pesky Picas

Posted on October 25, 2008 by marcbeaudin

Actually, it’s those pesky ornithologists.

Today, while researching another book, I found out that The Moon Cracks Open: A Field Guide to the Birds contains some faulty science. Fortunately, it’s a book of poetry, so the science is of questionable import anyway. However, my poem “Writing at Grizfork Studio” identifies the magpie as Pica pica. Turns out, it should be Pica hudsonia.

They (ornithologists, not the VanPatten’s) had thought, until recently, that the black-billed magpie of the western U.S. (and my poem) was the same species as the eurasian magpie. But now, the official word is nope. (Not a very official sounding word, I know.)

Anyway, here’s the new version of the poem, based on the latest science. If you’d like to read the original, unscientific version, you’ll have to buy the book.

Writing at Grizfork Studio (Pica Hudsonia)

Each day begins
w/ the conversations of magpies
who never run out of things to talk about

Each morning unfolds
w/ the fact of those mountains
who never feel the need to say a thing

I sit at my desk
w/ both of them and try
to grab hold of something that lies between the two

On a good day,
I come close.

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Regarding "October"

Posted on October 17, 2008 by marcbeaudin

This month’s “Poem-of-the-Month” at CrowVoice.com is titled “October.” This may be the most poetic of months. Old T.S. may have April pegged as the cruelest, though I disagree, but there’s something about October, something pensive and sadly beautiful, that makes for putting pen to paper and filling it with sighs and longings.

The poem “October” is a bit of departure for me, in that it’s on the surface, a piece of fiction. The characters and events are made up. Fabricated. Imagined out of the hunger for poetry in a mood that can be best characterized as October. However, I agree with an e-mail I just received:

“I read your October poem…how real to me it felt. I was that woman and I was that man …”

We’ve all been there. Unwilling to admit the failure of a relationship. Unable to accept the truth. I had no one in mind when I wrote it. I had everyone in mind. I had you in mind.

I was looking out of the window at the bar. I was listening to quiet jazz. I was working at the gas station, watching the guy at the pay phone.

“And I’m lost in the window
I hide on the stairway
I hang in the curtain
I sleep in your hat
And no one brings anything
Small into a bar around here.”

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