sounds of Paris
Ensemble Intercontemporain (Matthias Pintscher, direction), live, Paris, 2015: Helmut Lachenmann (1935-), Mouvement (-Vor der Erstarrung), 1984
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lagniappe
reading table
A dry riverbed
glimpsed
by lightning.—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), translated from the Japanese by Robert Hass
like nobody else
James Brown (1933-2006), live, Paris, 1968
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
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reading table
You shout from the other room
You ask me how to spell boogie-woogie
And instantly I think what luck
no war has been declared
no fire has consumed
our city’s monuments
our bodies our dwellings
The river didn’t flood
no friends
have been arrested
It’s only boogie-woogie
I sigh relieved
and say it’s spelled just like it sounds
boogie-woogie
—Adam Zagajewski (1945–2021), “Boogie-Woogie” (translated from the Polish by Clare Cavanagh)
timeless
One-word review: Wow!
Claude Debussy (1862-1918), String Quartet in G minor (1893), 3rd Mvt.; Quatuor Ebène, live (90th birthday celebration for pianist Menahem Pressler [1923-]), Paris, 2013
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
A string of wild geese
wind-strewn
through the sky
their cries echoing
confused and scattered—Saigyō (1118-1190), translated from the Japanese by Meredith McKinney
sounds of Paris
Yusef Lateef Quartet (YL, 1920-2013, flute; Kenny Barron, piano; Bob Cunningham, bass; Albert Heath, drums), “Yesterdays” (J. Kern), live, Paris, 1972
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago
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reading table
This is a world of books gone flat.
—Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979), from “Visits to St. Elizabeths”