Wednesday 29 October 2008

cello solo


sudden hacks
nervous like city fox
under the humdrum hush
of the house lights

from lungs and throats
semi-stalled

then the crinkly unwrapping
and the hollow sucks
of the house candy

relentless
bronchial
incompatability

meanwhile
from the female torso
the atonal
grinds on
and on

only to fade
to shivering silence

before the end
and the slow opening of doors

c) Gwilym Williams
2008

8 comments:

  1. Aye!
    Gwilym

    20/20 Vision

    20 men on a bus station
    squinting through their cameras
    snapping in 20 directions

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  2. Love the poem - sounds like so many concerts I have been to!

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  3. yes, it's that time of year again, the concert coughing season is underway - didn't spoil my recent visit to the opera Queen of Spades by Tchaikovsky! Osawa conducting from memory. The man's a genius even if he's pushing 80. Magnifico!

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  4. How many poems are so full of noise? I found it really effective. It also reminded me of the fantastic footage I saw of Simon Rattle stopping the Rite of Spring on account of a mobile phone and starting again!

    I know I'm in a minority, but I must confess a weakness for a good atonal grind...

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  5. Thanks Dominic!
    Your Simon Rattle story reminds me of the time I saw the great German language actor Martin Schwab in a play in Vienna. He suddenly stopped acting, went to the front of the stage and slowly and with deliberation took a neatly folded handkerchief from his trouser pocket and gently coughed into it (the hankie I mean not the pocket).

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  6. Sounds like you might have been enjoying the sounds of the audience a bit more than the cellist!

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  7. Dominic, who commented on my atonal poem cello solo you may like to revisit, a suitable length of time having elapsed, and view an image. It's a beautiful creation. There are still reasons for living.

    ReplyDelete

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