dverse

big wind tanka – 1 June

this gale scudding
euphony in drink tin timpani 
fallen fruit donging 
palm frond door slamming yes yes 
hurry yes — dissonant air(s)

Image: Katsushika Hokusai, A sudden gust of wind from the 36 views of Mt Fuji series (it’s actually called View 18, Ejiri in Suruga Province) c. 1830.

A single big-breath tanka for you. And linked to Dverse, the poets pub – where Bjorn is hosting some dissonance.

And for music this morning, Sufi Afghani music from the Ahmad Sham Sufi Qawwali Group. (YouTubers) – Maybe start with Oh Desolate Flame

“The group have been performing for more than thirty years and is one of the most highly regarded qawwali groups in Afghanistan. Featuring an array of instruments rarely heard outside their homeland, the Ahmad Sham Sufi Qawwali Group are part of a vibrant musical tradition that stretches back more than 700 years. Banned from performing under the Taliban reign, these musicians now publicly reunite to present the healing and spiritual power of qawwali music to Afghanistan and the world.”

(This album from 2013, I don’t know the status of the group since the Taliban regime was reinstated in Afghanistan in 2021)

another tanka – 11 May

thanks for this dust
ground out of sunlight
slap on well-worn boards

huff & punch    heat   &  s   t   r   e   t   c  h    
ancient dance    this staff     this life

Image: During lockdown, a neighbour left us wonderful bread, a loaf a week left on our doorstep. An additional tanka written for Dverse where Misky is hosting and asks us to write on food.

And for music while you’re eating, here’s some chorale from the European Renaissance – Paul van Nevel and the Hueglas Ensemble with Utopia Triumphans – (my favourite is the round Deo Gratias)

cumulonimbus to the max

sometime soon
the afternoon monsoon
massy clouds will let go
feathered vapour becomes stun-gun
pelts — school-kids, nuns on bicycles, ponies and peonies heavy heads down
all us plain-living things — with life (L…I…F…E…)
gouts and over-spouts 
your embrace leaves me drenched
thunder down the hallway.  

Image: Margaret Barr’s “Strange Children” [ballet], 1955 / photographer unknown c/- State Library of NSW
Margaret Barr (29 November 1904 – 29 May 1991) was a choreographer and teacher of dance-drama who worked in the United States, England, New Zealand and Australia. During a career of more than sixty years, she created over eighty works.

A quadrille for Dverse where De is hosting and asks us to use the word ‘go’ in our 44 word poem.

And for those of you thawing out from too much winter, here’s Monsoon feat. Sheila Chandra from 1982 with Ever So Lonely