Some strains, some notes
a soft light flute.
A flute, a lute,
A blaring toot!
Ships on sail and men on feet.
Merry advances, sad retreat.
Games and sports and war and love.
Sun and moon and stars above.
God is great: His name we sing.
Hate not, love and let life bring
music, concord, harmony…
Look above: the blue blue sky.
A flute, a lute,
a mellowing tone.
Souls that mourn and
hearts than moan.
A lute? A flute?
Some strain once known.
1994
Dev, although I can’t put my finger on it, I can’t shake the feeling that your poetry and photography both are influenced by your synesthesia that we’ve discussed in the past: the occasional faculty of experiencing sounds as color, shapes as taste, or whatever forms it takes. Am I imagining that?
Be that as it may, I love this poem. Thanks!
Thank you, Gary!
I think synesthesia plays a part in a lot of ways I experience the world, and perhaps how I say/express certain things, but not sure if it fuels my photography. I say that because my photography practice is selecting things already out there instead of synthesizing elements, like with photoshop. Some people are good at that kind of photography. I don’t even call it photography, it’s probably a different type of art which uses photography as a starting point and then manipulates a lot of elements. It’s more akin to painting. Changing colors, changing light, changing shadows and so on. I tried that for a while and it wasn’t my thing.
Now, words, or word choice, that probably does get affected by my synesthesia. I experience some notes as warm and orangish, some as cool, bluish. So I may describe music as such. However, the most prominent and significant experience I have is how I see time. Not sure if you remember my post/blog but I see a year as a somewhat circular ribbon laid out with January and December being next to each other. I see weeks similarly, always two weeks at once, laid flat in a circular ribbon or band. The time of the day, however, is a vertical tape/ribbon and I can go up or down the clock. It’s a madhouse in my head.