Joan of Arc: Issa's Sunday Service, #162

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For awhile, back in the day, say the 40s, 50s & 60s, there was something of a Joan of Arc revival, a Joan of Arc heyday. Sometime over the last year, my partner and I watched a number of film adaptations from back then, both in search of the one iconic version we remembered. I believe the Jean Seberg version was the one I remembered best, but there have been so many it really is hard to say. Though I'm an Ingrid Bergman fan, her version seemed rote to me.

Leonard Cohen writes a pretty good film via song, and I'd forgotten about this particular song until a couple weeks ago. I purchased the album (again - who knows where the LP I bought so many decades ago is) it was on and discovered there was another song on the album referencing Joan. I'll have to go back for a listen to see which one it was. Meanwhile, this will serve as today's Sunday Service selection. 

Joan of Arc

Now the flames they followed Joan of Arc
As she came riding through the dark;
No moon to keep her armour bright,
No man to get her through this very smoky night.
She said, I’m tired of the war,
I want the kind of work I had before,
A wedding dress or something white
To wear upon my swollen appetite.

Well, I’m glad to hear you talk this way,
You know I’ve watched you riding every day
And something in me yearns to win
Such a cold and lonesome heroine.
And who are you? she sternly spoke
To the one beneath the smoke.
Why, I’m fire, he replied,
And I love your solitude, I love your pride.

Then fire, make your body cold,
I’m going to give you mine to hold,
Saying this she climbed inside
To be his one, to be his only bride.
And deep into his fiery heart
He took the dust of Joan of Arc,
And high above the wedding guests
He hung the ashes of her wedding dress.

It was deep into his fiery heart
He took the dust of Joan of Arc,
And then she clearly understood
If he was fire, oh then she must be wood.
I saw her wince, I saw her cry,
I saw the glory in her eye.
Myself I long for love and light,
But must it come so cruel, and oh so bright? 
 

What follows first is a turn of the century rendition of the story, around 10 minutes long, which somehow manages to hit most of the bases. Done by Georges Melies, the cinema pioneer (he of the rocket in the eye of the Man and the Moon and whom Martin Scorsese paid tribute to in his delightful film "Hugo") it exhibits all of his outstanding techniques used in so many of his early films.


 

Next is the full length of the restored "The Passion of Joan of Arc" by Carl Dreyer. I haven't seen it in its entirety but soon will. It looks incredible.
 

   

The list of movies is extensive; here's one that seems fairly comprehensive, though it appears to need an update to cover recent years.

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Photo by Telstar Logistics

misty day--
no doubt Heaven's saints
bored stiff

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,

Don   

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Albert Huffstickler - "To My Twin Born Dead": Small Press Friday

Huff's broad appeal to audiences of poetry and non-poetry readers alike has always been amazing - that appeal seems to know no boundaries. 

One reason, it seems to me, is that generally his narrative voice and the poet himself seem to be one in the same. Not that this alone is any measure for popular appeal. If that were the case, there would be millions more "good" poets round the world.

However, that singular Huff voice, coupled with an unwavering honesty, sometimes taken to painful, confessional extremes, seems to be basic to Huff's wide renown. This is only a thought on my part - if someone was to ask me what it was that attracted me to the work, I'd simply say love. 

And I'd let the reader/listener figure exactly what I meant by that or, perhaps, what Huff meant by that. 

The poem, "To My Twin Born Dead," is an example of what I'm getting at. It is a poem of forthright honesty, based on autobiographical fact, taken deep into the lyrical realm. It's as though he has somehow put his heart on display for all, and the ache of suffering is almost too much to bear. It is, and he makes this quite clear, central to his identity and the deep feeling of loss that permeated his life and work.

"To My Twin Born Dead" comes from the fine collection of selected poems, Why I Write in Coffee Houses and Diners, which is readily available from abebooks or, if you insist on the corporate route, the big-box virtual store and is well worth your hard earned dough. 

Hey, it is Small Press Friday - pick an independent book shop from abebooks. I'm just saying. It'll do your heart, and their wallet, some good.


To My Twin Born Dead

It was like being stuck in a door,
both of us fighting to get out,
the pressure building
like there was a crowd behind us
pushing, pushing.
And then a sudden surge 
and I burst through,
hearing your voice trail away behind me
as I floundered out there in the light,
thinking, "The door was too small." 
And then later they brought you out,
a battered, lifeless thing,
and I was alone for the first time ever.

Sometimes I wonder
if all my poems are to you,
keeping a record you'll never read
of my sojourn in that place
you never reached.
Sometimes I think
they need to invent
a new word for loneliness—
a sound that reaches
into the marrow of the bone
then passes on
into infinity .

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

Photo by Puzzler 4879

facing the gate
of elder brother...
a cold night 

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,

Don   

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Spring Equinox Reading: 3/28/13 @ ModernFormations

For those of you within hailing distance, come on out tomorrow (Thursday) night to ModernFormations Gallery when The Friends of Lilliput Review will present a Spring Equinox Reading. 

Featured readers are Robert Isenberg, Renée Alberts, Kris Collins, Angele Ellis, and yours truly.  Admission is $5 or FREE w/ a covered dish (BYOB)

Aside from the dazzling lyrical entertainment, there will be, as a friend noted, FREE SWAP, in this case the just released new issues of Lilliput Review:

  

So, if you can, come on out and help an awesome bunch of rag-tag poets usher in one hell of a reluctant spring. 

Photo by Patrick Doheny

the little crow
slips so cleverly...
spring rain

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,

Don   

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Jayashree Maniyil & old pajamas: Wednesday Haiku, #108

receding shoreline
i draw a bigger moon
on his forehead

Jayashree Maniyil

Photo by ξωαŋ ThΦt (slowly back...) 

gambling for the moon and stars // a wind hurries along this poem

old pajamas

don't bump your head
on that sickle moon!
cuckoo

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,

Don   

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Tessa Essex & Gary Grubbs: Wednesday Haiku, #107

 Antique cigar box

three years . . .
just the scent of his
cigar box is enough

    Tessa Essex

 

 Photo by Marian Bijlenga

These words
      Disappear too
Geese crossing
      The autumn sky

          Gerry Grubbs

Geese Descending on the Koto Bridges by Suzuki Harunobu

old man's leisure--
this year's tobacco too
becomes smoke

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,

Don   

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1959: Issa's Sunday Service, #161

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I really can't go very long without revisiting the Patti Smith: she is known as the high Poetess of Rock for good reason. Today's song, 1959, is a bit of a history lesson from a counterculture point of view. Certainly the year was pivotal in so many ways. Here are some random facts from that year, courtesy of Wikipedia and HistoryOrb.com (a bit of an indulgence, yes, but an informative one):

• In Cuba, rebel troops led by Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos enter the city of Havana.
• Motown Records founded by Berry Gordy, Jr.
• Pope John XXIII announces that the Second Vatican Council will be convened in Rome.
• Swiss males vote against voting rights for women.
• A chartered plane transporting musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper and pilot Roger Peterson goes down in foggy conditions near Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all 4 occupants on board.
• Recording sessions for the album Kind of Blue by Miles Davis take place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City.
• Recording sessions for the influential jazz album Kind of Blue by Miles Davis take place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City.
• Two monkeys, Able and Miss Baker are the first living beings to successfully return to Earth from space aboard the flight Jupiter AM-18.
• Groups of Kurdish and communist militias rebelled in Kirkuk, Iraq against the central government.  
• At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, United States Vice President Richard Nixon and USSR Premier Nikita Khrushchev engage ine the "Kitchen Debate".
• The Xerox 914, the first plain paper copier, is introduced to the public.
• Typhoon Vera hits central Honshū, Japan, killing an estimated 5,098, injuring another 38,921, and leaving 1,533,000 homeless. Most of the victims and damage are centered in the Nagoya area.
• The first official large unit action of the Vietnam War took place when two companies of the ARVN 23d Division were ambushed by a well-organized Vietcong force of several hundred identified as the "2d Liberation Battalion".
• Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev meets Mao Zedong in Beijing.
• The 10th anniversary of the People's Republic of China is celebrated with pomp across the country.
• Rod Serling's classic anthology series The Twilight Zone premieres on CBS.
• The U.S.S.R. probe Luna 3 sends back the first ever photos of the far side of the Moon.
• Riots break out in the Belgian Congo.
• The Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas is brutally murdered, inspiring Truman Capote's In Cold Blood.
• MGM's widescreen, multimillion dollar, Technicolor version of Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston, is released and becomes the studio's greatest hit up to that time
• The first known human with HIV dies in the Congo.
• Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Theodore Roethke
• Texas Instruments requests patent of IC (Integrated Circuit)
• Vince Lombardi signs a 5 year contract to coach Green Bay Packers
• Boston Celtic Bob Cousy sets NBA record with 28 assists Boston Celtics score 173 points against Minneapolis Lakers
• Iran & US sign economic & military treaty
• Iraq & USSR sign economic/technical treaty
• Uprising against Chinese occupation force in Lhasa Tibet
• Dalai Lama flees Tibet for India
• "Raisin in the Sun," 1st Broadway play by a black woman, opens
• Oklahoma ends prohibition, after 51 years.
• Vatican edict forbids Roman Catholics for voting for communists
• Pulitzer prize awarded to Archibald Macleish
• "Kookie, Kookie Lend Me Your Comb" by Byrnes & Connie Stevens hits #4
• Japanese-Americans regain their citizenship
• Presbyterian church accepts women preachers
• 1st house with built-in bomb shelter exhibited
• Harvey Haddix pitches 12 perfect innings, loses in 13th
• Allen Ginsberg writes his poem "Lysergic Acid."
• Bob Dylan graduates Hibbing HS in Minn.
• Postmaster General bans D H Lawrence's book, Lady Chatterley's Lover
• 1st telecast transmitted from England to US
• "West Side Story" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 734 perfs.
• Dr Leakey discovers oldest human skull (600,000 years old).
• William Shea announces he plans to have a baseball team in NYC in 1961.
• "Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis," debuts on CBS-TV
• Lee Harvey Oswald announces in Moscow he will never return to US.
• 12 nations sign treaty for scientific peaceful use of Antarctica
• 1st color photograph of Earth from outer space
• Citizens of Deerfield Ill block building of interracial housing
• Richard Starkey receives his 1st drum set

Here's Patti's take, desolation angels and all, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times:

1959 

Listen to my story. Got two tales to tell.
One of fallen glory. One of vanity.
The world's roof was raging, but we were looking fine;
'Cause we built that thing and it grew wings,
in Nineteen-Fifty-Nine.

Wisdom was a teapot; Pouring from above.
Desolation angels
Served it up with Love.
Ignitin' strife like every form of light,
then moved by bold design,
slid in that thing and it grew wings,
in Nineteen-Fifty-Nine.

It was Blood, shining in the Sun;
First: Freedom!
Speeding the american claim:
Freedom; Freedom; Freedom; Freedom!

China was the tempest; And Madness overflowed.
The Lama was a young man,
and he watched his world in flames.
Taking Glory down by the edge of clouds;
It was a cryin' shame.
Another lost horizon. Tibet the fallen star.
Wisdom and compassion Crushed, in the land of Shangri-La.
But in the land of the Impala, honey, well,
we were lookin' Fine,
'cause we built that thing and it grew wings;
In Nineteen-Fifty-Nine.
'Cause we built that thing and it grew wings;
In Nineteen-Fifty-Nine.

It was the best of times, it's was the worst of times;
In 1959; 1959; 1959; 1959; 1959; 1959; 1959.
It was the best of times; It was the worst of times.
In Nineteen-Fifty-Nine. 

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

And here's a near perfect live take:

 

       

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Artwork by Ion Theodorescu-Sion

 

spring's first dawn--
the priest pretending
to sweep

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,
Don 

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Telling It Like It Is - John Bennett (Small Press Friday)

Photo by BombDog

Telling It Like It Is - John Bennett

I've decided to
stand back
from the
truth &
tell things
like they
really are.

Some days, some days, only John Bennett will do. This Small Press Friday is one of them.  If you need a taste more, try Battle Scars on for size. 

It fits.

And is from one of my favorite small presses today, Kamini Press of Sweden. And tell Henry I said hello.  


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2 By Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

 

today again
death draws nearer...
the wildflowers

Photo by Autan

someone else's affair
you think...
lanterns for the dead

best,

Don   

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Kirsten Cliff & Angele Ellis: Wednesday Haiku, #106

Photo by Edgar Barany

heartsick . . .
the foxgloves of my childhood
out of reach

Kirsten Cliff

 

Nokhur graveyard - photo by Carpetblogger

country graveyard—
sheep-like stones
herded by farmhouse shadows

Angele Ellis

  

Photo by zilverbat

Visiting the graves
the old dog
leads the way

Issa
translated by Robert Hass

best,

Don   

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Albatross: Issa's Sunday Service, #160

Artwork by Gustave Dore

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Somehow, all this begins with an American edition of a British album that for decades was never released in the states. The American version is English Rose, by the original, blues-oriented Fleetwood Mac. It turns that both albums where compilations and English Rose actually came out first. For those who are confused by an earlier, blues-oriented Fleetwood Mac, I supply the following:

The British album, which contained today's featured cut, "Albatross," was entitled The Pious Bird of Good Omen and, of course, it's taken a rather slow Don some 30 plus years on the uptake to connect that Pious Bird with Coleridge's poem.

How thick can you get, you might ask?

Well, in preparing a session on Coleridge for the poetry group that I moderate I was listening to a recorded version (and following along with the Annotated Ancient Mariner), I stumbled across the pious bird of good omen line and received the 30 year old kick in the head, er, punchline. 

And so Albatross becomes the 3 or 4th instrumental to make the Sunday Service. Hope you enjoy it.  

One minor aside: back in the mid-60s when I was in high school, the rock and the roll was verboten in the Catholic institution I attended. This cut, however, was slipped in by a student in the know as the music piped through the halls during the time before homeroom when students where at their lockers. The student's first name was Joseph, though his last has faded in my dull brain (have to make room for new facts, see above) over the years. Let me reiterate something I said to him many a year ago.

Thanks, Joseph.

Here's the original Fleetwood Mac in their original blues glory - this one's for you, Joe.


     

And, in a real cultural artifact, here's Fleetwood Mac putting a colossal laugh over Hugh Hefner and company with the, um, "Rattlesnake Shake." To quote one of the commenters on the song, it is"the best song about masturbation ever written."

Though this is certainly hyperbole, performing on "Playboy After Dark" was a lark of another order.  I didn't trim the video not just because of the music but watching Don Adams and Arte Johnson jam out is just too good for words:

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from his hole
the snake pokes his head...
the cat slaps it

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,

Don   

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Small Press Friday: Amanda Palmer

 

If Amanda Palmer ruled the world, with some wee assistance from her able consort, NG, I would be a very happy person, indeed. 

I was late to the party, arriving around the time that her EP of Radiohead covers, accompanied by ukelele and voice, was released (it's available here for a dollar). Her offering to let the listener, first, listen to the entirety free, and, second, pay what s/he wished for the recording intrigued me.

Which is how this all ended up on Small Press Friday.

Why, you might ask, Small Press Friday? 

Well, the lesson here is universal, in its own way, and if you think it's "I need a Kickstarter to keep my press afloat, publish my book of poems, promote my album, feel in your need here ______," you've got the wrong end of the stick (and perhaps are not even in the correct wooded area).
 

Sure, there are lots of things to be cynical about, but Amanda Palmer's passion is not one of them. Her intent, too, draws a bye. One thing to perhaps be cynical about is talent.

Amanda Palmer has it. Do you.

So this week's Small Press Friday assignment is to watch the TED video, above.  For me, it is brilliant, in intent, execution, and, most of all, in heart. It is my understanding it's gone super-viral, and was passed on to me by a friend. And so I pass it on to you. 
 

How's that song go - you've gotta have heart?

And for the truly skeptical about Radiohead on ukelele, here you are (this builds, darlings, yes, it is a shaky handheld in the beginning, but all of that will fall away in a mindblowing finale):

 

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Art by Kuniyoshi Utagawa

traveling geese--
the human heart, too
soars

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,

Don   

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