Sunday, February 28, 2010

Sweet Jane: Issa's Sunday Service, #44


Patti Smith & Lou Reed


It's time for a shout-out to all the poets (who "studied rules of verse") out there and, for the Sunday Service, I can't think of better way than Lou Reed and Sweet Jane.





This live acoustic version from Spanish TV is worth a look-see, especially for the chord thieves amongst us:





Lou is a god in NY, but, aside from this little number and "Walk on the Wild Side," a future LitRock selection, I'm not sure this is the case everywhere else (well, of course, there is always France and, it would seem, Spain). I'm a huge Lou and Velvet Underground fan, so there is no objectivity here. This Sunday Service is all about the worship.


-----------------------------------


This week's feature poem is from issue #68 of Lilliput Review, April 1995. In a previous post, 6 poems were highlighted from this issue. scarecrow's poem is about the ultimate transcendence, which all attain, no matter religion, race, or sex.



¶dreamed that my face was large
-composed of sifted red clay dirt,
-yucca,
-snakeweed,
-mesquite,

-hoofprints abounding.
scarecrow






in cuffs dragging
through the dirt...
plum blossoms
Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue




best,
Don


PS To listen to all 44 selections so far (or to pick and choose individually), see the Issa's LitRock Jukebox on the sidebar. Or visit the spin off page here. Background info on all the songs and links back to the original posts can be found here.

As always, I'm offering the two current issues of Lilliput Review free (or have 2 copies added to your current subscription) for any litrock selections that I use in a future post. Just email me at: lilliput review at gmail dot com.

14 comments:

  1. surrounded
    by tinfoil -
    I'm Waiting For The Man


    J.L.S.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey, John, somebody out there DOES like Lou ... thanks ...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello,

    Your site, your work is brilliant, full of affection. I never miss a post. Thank you so much. I lived in and loved the East Village,
    1960's.....old pajamas

    ReplyDelete
  4. Charles, ah, that hit the spot ...

    opj ... thanks much, really appreciate it very much ...

    ReplyDelete
  5. now taking a 'trip' back into
    The City via Patti Smith's

    "just kids"

    you know:
    there:
    is:
    more:
    to:
    life...
    than meets the eye


    also,

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ed, just got this myself, though I bit buried under hope to get to it soon ... keep me posted ...

    ReplyDelete
  7. they just moved into the Chelsea Hotel My daughter, a cpl years ago went up to dance with her flamenco troupe and stayed at The Chelsea Hotel...
    when she told me I FREAKED...she went down to the bar one late night to have a drink and the lady sittng next to her bought her a drink and chit chatted.. It was Lynne Redgrave!

    now I can pass on this Patti Smith section re: The Chelsea Hotel


    then move on to skip-around in and revisit LE via The Collected Larry Eigner

    (took a crane to lift the four volumes out of the box)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ed, more dangerous in the bar than the alley ...

    Have never connected with LE ... didn't no where to start - a # of poets from those schools back and the day went way over my head ...

    Any suggestions?

    ReplyDelete
  9. I really don't
    and never ever have
    "studied" the poetry/poems of poets
    especially Poets.


    only boks of... I have ever made notes in and mostly just a check-mark or other sybol next to a title or a line I've ever consistently well "studied"

    was just about everything WCW published up until about
    1973 or so..

    in all of my Pound stuff not a single mark in anything of his publisheD

    just open one of anybodhi's book and let your eye/mind/heart imbibe what it will..

    and, simply, discard the crap...


    the biggest best is to come away from a poem w:

    "that's pretty cool... not a wasted word anywhere...he gets-in AND gets-out unexpectedly on/with any (single) word

    ... just spend 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years looking out of the same window and
    see just what is there doing...

    you just might discover that what you see SEE that what is seen IS your

    NEIGHBOR


    ( and then I wrote...


    Neighbors vols 1-6

    so that

    approaching LE remeber it is all so subject he (the poet) is hsi own subject/object simultaneously.

    where to start? anywhere..just as the poem writes the poem

    no trickery allowed..

    let the playing play out far beyond any posturing or blather-added comments/criticisms..

    studying has it s place and time... students study... grown-ups make things to use... then use them... just as they are..

    ( if any of this makes any sense... well... you're just as crazy as I am!
    DIG IT!


    pee pee est... Evie stayed at The Elgonkwin and not The Chealsea both place

    "legendary" seedy places where lots of "stuff" happened!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Actually, you make perfect sense ... most especially not a wasted word, well, now that is something to celebrate -

    I'll forge in, separating wheat from chaff ... thanks as always for your insight .

    ReplyDelete
  11. well

    don't mention it
    as most words/things just come
    and go speaking softly of Mikeleangelo

    if they do dare-and-do "speak" at all


    and then the images invoked? just 26 letters combinate to make such Magic...


    reminds me of that song/psalm/tune (The Drifters)

    This Mag-uh-ick Moment
    when your lips are next to mine

    ahhh: there goes my muse again.. in the arms of someone knew (new)

    The Drifters? or was it The Clovers? could of bee Lew Reed? or even Pat Boone(not)!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ed:

    Extra points for the Pat Boone reference.

    Ed and Don:

    Eavesdropping on your dialogue in the comments section has become one of my favorite pastimes.

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  13. It's Ed that's keeping it real ...

    Coupla old farts, largely missing the spittoon ...

    Thanks, Jim ...

    ReplyDelete