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|  0 recommendations | Message 1 of 26 in Discussion |
| | (Original Message) | Sent: 10/10/2007 5:03 PM |
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| | From:  _Xer | Sent: 10/10/2007 11:24 PM |
| So do I, Pikes. In the meantime. The only two poets I know anything about are Octavio Paz and Victor Hugo, having had one book of each. Paz being Spanish/Indian (Latino) has the market cornered on surrealism. I love his writing, even though I don't usually understand it--in English, much less Spanish. But, while I could not in good conscience compare my work to Hugo's, I would say his influence shows more strongly in my poems. I know, it's not a poem, but might give you some clue as to what I'm about. |
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| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 10/11/2007 3:08 AM |
After having had an afternoon for recollection, I would like to modify my earlier statement. I remembered, my wife did not give me the book of Hugo until after I'd writen most of my poems, so can't really claim ANYONE as an influence. ="^(
But there are some subtle similarities between some of Hugo's poems and some of mine, I don't know if it's rhythm or what. Really, I just started writing poetry one day, knowing NOTHING about the stuff. Weird. I still know nothing about poetry except I like Paz, and reading Hugo always reminds me of my little brother, which still makes me very sad. |
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So, you're an original, a little like Modest Mussorgsky. You're in good company. Most important thing about any art, is that you follow your heart. When one heart beats, many more follow. Poems are strings that connect hearts together in the human experience. |
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| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 10/11/2007 9:52 AM |
| The operative there as relates to Mussorgsky seems to be the word little. You are, perhaps, lavish with your estimation? But, thank you, Pikes. An 'original' is probably accurate in any case. |
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I LOVE "Pictures at an Exhibition" played on the piano. I understand that it was written for the piano (is that right?), but it's usually played by an orchestra. When I was young and frivolous, I used to say the title of my autobiography was going to be "Pictures of an Exhibitionist." I cringe to remember that now. What would the titles of you all's autobiographies be? |
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Maurice Ravel undertook the formidable task of orchestration of Pictures. For me, it doesn't work. Ravel was a tremendous orchestrator; one of the best ever. But the colors he painted with orchestral paint for Pictures, is like colorization of an old movie that really belongs in black and white. Pictures was written for the piano, and it requires a colossal pianist to play it. That is why one hears so few recordings of pianists who play it. Pictures is a work that truly puts fear into the heart of any but a pianistic giant. Everybody competes with the performance and recording of Horowitz. Richter's famous recording is good, but not that good. I would title my autobiography, "I Haven't Died Yet." When I pass on, I have two legacies that will remain, and grow stronger. First are my children, and second is my music. The second will outlive the first. |
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I don't know who the pianist is on my recording of "Pictures." My recording is a tape a friend sent me. It's brilliant. It was like hearing the work for the first time to hear it on the piano. You feel about your music the way I feel about my stories, Pikes. Some years ago, a crazy man was choking me. And at that moment when I thought I was going to die, my greatest regret was that my stories wouldn't get written. Is art a selfish gene, do you think? |
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Yes, art is a selfish gene. It is a defiance of a biological reality, that develops when intelligence is not required solely for survival. When the individual is granted time for play and creativity, beyond simple survival, some realization of the expanse of time occurs. When that is understood to extend beyond the biological limitation, the desire is to somehow put a footprint into that future, and retain something of life through memory. |
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Pikes, that is a masterly way of saying it. "Putting a footprint into the future." I am in awe of the way your write. |
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| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 10/11/2007 8:42 PM |
| I must say, it is a rare pleasure reading you two conversing. Pikes, that really was an interesting way of saying it. |
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It's a rare pleasure for me to converse with both of you on an MSN board. It's the kind of conversation I hoped to find when I first started reading and posting to MSN boards in 2006. How long have you all been doing this? |
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| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 10/11/2007 10:30 PM |
Since 1998. Belle, I must apologize for running off when I'd much rather chat, but duties call. I am going to try and get back on sometime this afternoon before you call it a day. Otherwise, I hope you have a perfectly wonderful evening, a good nights sleep, and I'll 'see' you tomorrow.
atb |
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A few years now. I used to limit this to just two communities, until I learned recently about a few more, managed or founded by people whom I grew to know, respect, and cherish. These communities are neighborhoods across the planet, tying people together not by proximity, but by common interest. Some think it isn't real, but all of my profs and friends at Juilliard talk on line all the time.... some are into the IM thing, and converse all over the world. I met, for example Emilie Etienne, with whom I'll study in two summers. My physical neighbors are nice people too, but I am different, and we all know it. I always want to go so much deeper than they, and that's fine. I appreciate the difference, and think no less of them. In ways I am not, they are more grounded. |
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I know what you mean by wanting to go much deeper than your neighbors. I know about liking and admiring people you can't talk to about "the larger question," as a friend of mine put it. Since I have been grown, I've been lucky to live around people who wanted to talk about the larger question, except for nearly three years in Oklahoma, where I felt starved for the kind of conversation I was used to. It was a big surprise to find here in Oak Harbor (a military town) a group of people who want to talk about whether Kate really meant what she said in the last scene of "Taming of the Shrew." I had wonderful friend in Texas whose husband was a redneck. My husband and I went to visit them, and we got into a discussion with her about Hamlet. Later she told me what her husband said afterward. He said, "What a bunch of longheads! Who cares if Hamlet wanted to sleep with his mother?" (I love that story.) |
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