I love this piece! Light and deep at the same time.

poetry

Background, context, and transcript: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/07/09/sylvia-plath-spoken-word-tulips-bbc/

Sylvia Plath reads "Tulips": A Rare BBC Recording

The More Loving One

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.

How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.

Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.

Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.

(From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._H._Auden)

Wystan Hugh Auden (/ˈwɪstən ˈhjuː ˈɔːdən/;[1] 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973), who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,[2][3] born in England, later an American citizen, regarded by many critics as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.[4] His work is noted for its stylistic and technical achievements, its engagement with moral and political issues, and its variety of tone, form and content.[5][6] The central themes of his poetry are love, politics and citizenship, religion and morals, and the relationship between unique human beings and the anonymous, impersonal world of nature.

Auden grew up in and near Birmingham in a professional middle-class family and read English literature at Christ Church, Oxford. His early poems, written in the late 1920s and early 1930s, alternated between telegraphic modern styles and fluent traditional ones, were written in an intense and dramatic tone, and established his reputation as a left-wing political poet and prophet. He became uncomfortable in this role in the later 1930s, and abandoned it after he moved to the United States in 1939, where he became an American citizen in 1946. His poems in the 1940s explored religious and ethical themes in a less dramatic manner than his earlier works, but still combined traditional forms and styles with new forms devised by Auden himself. In the 1950s and 1960s many of his poems focused on the ways in which words revealed and concealed emotions, and he took a particular interest in writing opera librettos, a form ideally suited to direct expression of strong feelings.[7]

He was also a prolific writer of prose essays and reviews on literary, political, psychological and religious subjects, and he worked at various times on documentary films, poetic plays and other forms of performance. Throughout his career he was both controversial and influential. After his death, some of his poems, notably "Funeral Blues" ("Stop all the clocks"), "Musée des Beaux Arts", "Refugee Blues", "The Unknown Citizen", and "September 1, 1939", became known to a much wider public than during his lifetime through films, broadcasts, and popular media.[4]

W.H. Auden reads The More Loving One

'Daddy,' a poem by Sylvia Plath, read by RM.

Tunng and Pinkunoizu toured together across mainland Europe and the UK in September/October 2013. To celebrate, the two bands remixed a track from each of their most recent albums.

The original of 'The Great Pacific Garbage Patch' is taken from Pinkunoizu's 'The Drop' - https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-drop/id668541365 
The original of 'Embers' is taken from Tunng's 'Turbines' - https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/turbines/id642832029

Tunng - Embers (Pinkunoizu remix)

I attached two JRF contact microphones inside the hollow of this wonderful old Oak tree to see if I could pick up any bug sounds. I was amazed to hear that it was completely full of Death Watch Beetle. They knock their heads on the tree to attract a mate.

You can now download this track and works by other recordists for free,  from the album 'a quiet position: wildeye edition":
http://engravedglass.bandcamp.com/album/a-quiet-position-wildeye-edition

This recording won the Coveted Wildlife Sound Recording Society's “Silver Fox” Trophy, the Non-Avian award and a first in class 2: Species in the 2012 WSRS competition. It also won first prize in the 'sounds of nature' category in the IWT/IARC/CIMES 2013 competition awarded by the International Federation of Sound Hunters.

DEATH WATCH BEETLE IN A LIVING OAK TREE

reading wishbone by richard siken

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE MP3 FOR FREE : http://www.unlock.fm/sw

Cover #20 from the series "Songs I Love" by Piers Faccini

I first heard this song on my favourite Pentangle album ´Solomon's seal'. I read later that it was Anne Brigg´s beautiful a cappella version recorded in 1971 that brought this jewel of a song to wider acclaim. Like much of the great English folk canon, this early C19th song blends a delicate and haunting melody with some stunning poetry.
My friend, the South African guitarist and songwriter Nibs van der Spuy introduced me to Dick Gaughan's masterpiece 'Handful of Earth' while we were on tour in South Africa a few years ago. If I had to pick my favourite version of The snows they melt the soonest, it would doubtless be Gaughan's wonderfully intense and amost spoken rendition.
I live in the Cevennes in Southern France and during the Summer I organize acoustic concerts in the region. For each show, I share the stage with a different artist and friend. After Dawn Landes in May and Vincent Segal in June, I invited Nibs for July's concert in the Romanesque chapel of Sainte Croix de Caderle. I took advantage of him staying for a couple of days at our home to record a version of The snows they melt the soonest, a song we both love!

__________

Order book/cd 'Songs I Love' vol.1: http://shop.beatingdrumrecords.com/

Also available on:
iTunes: http://smarturl.it/songsilove1
Spotify: http://spoti.fi/1jbGOfl
Deezer: http://www.deezer.com/album/8050372
Google Play: http://bit.ly/songsiloveplay
Qobuz: http://bit.ly/songsiloveqz
__________

Piers Faccini : http://www.facebook.com/PiersFacciniMusic
Beating Drum : http://www.beatingdrumrecords.com/

Free Download

Piers Faccini - The Snows They Melt The Soonest (Songs I Love #20)

Shimmering Moods founder Paul mixes together 17 tracks from recent and upcoming releases into a stunning mix of light electronica and dark ambient, full of powerful moods and intriguing textures. 

Read More at www.acloserlisten.com

Shimmering Moods presents "Tales of the Field"

HEIR

HEIR I

Full context and poem text: https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/04/27/janna-levin-reads-planetarium-by-adrienne-rich/

Recorded at "The Universe in Verse," April 24, 2017.

Photograph of Janna Levin by Molly Walsh / Academy of American Poets

POEM TEXT / CONTEXT

Astrophysicist Janna Levin reads "Planetarium" by Adrienne Rich

The Moss Valley is a five mile stretch of ancient woodlands, rivers, moors and farms along theYorkshire/Derbyshire border. This valley was the landscape of my upbringing, hamlets and small villages all hidden away, forgotten and nested alongside the remnants of rich agricultural labour and industrial workings. I started spending days walking miles throughout the Valley, exploring the land on foot, through hidden walkways, preserved bridleways and ancient woodlands digging into the soil, making tracks and taking in the air. I discovered a sense of place from exploring the natural environments and rich wildlife around the area. It was through gentle movement and close observation which brought an understanding, a connection, a stillness and a rooted sense of belonging.

Song taken from Jim Ghedi's 2nd album 'A Hymn for Ancient Land' released with Basin Rock early 2018.

https://jimghedi.bandcamp.com/
http://www.basinrock.co.uk/jim-ghedi-a-hymn-for-ancient-land.html

Home For Moss Valley

Cover of a song by Birds Are Indie (Coimbra, PT) 
Original version available here: http://birdsareindie.bandcamp.com/

Written by Joana & Jeronimo 
Arranged & played by me 
Rhythmic seagulls recorded in Ramsgate, Kent, UK

Words:

Needless to say she’s on the move (I’ll go this way)
Needless to say she’s on her way to him (La da da)
Needless to say she’s on her back (I’ll turn this way)
Needless to say she’s on the run &
Running out of love 

The northern sky was passing by (La da da)
I tried to figure out the colour of your eyes
The northern sky was passing by (La da da)
What do you mean by “What”?
What do you mean by “What do you mean”?

Needless to say she’s on the move (I’ll go this way)
Needless to say she’s on her way to him (La da da)
Needless to say she’s on her back (I’ll turn this way)
Needless to say she’s on the run &
Running out of love 

The northern sky was passing by (La da da)
I tried to figure out the colour of your eyes
The northern sky was passing by (La da da)
I’d like to figure out the touch of your skin
What do you mean by “What”?
What do you mean by “What do you mean”?

Running out of love

Needless to Say [Benoît Pioulard version]

From Wikipedia(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevie_Smith)

Florence Margaret Smith, known as Stevie Smith (20 September 1902 – 7 March 1971) was an English poet and novelist. 
Smith wrote three novels, the first of which, Novel on Yellow Paper, was published in 1936. All her novels are lightly fictionalised accounts of her own life, which got her into trouble at times as people recognised themselves.[4]Smith said that two of the male characters in her last book are different aspects of George Orwell, who was close to Smith (there were even rumours that they were lovers; he was married to his first wife at the time). She also wrote nine volumes of poetry. The first, A Good Time Was Had By All, established her as a poet: soon her poems were found in periodicals. A confessional poet, her style was often very dark; her characters were perpetually saying "goodbye" to their friends or welcoming death. At the same time her work has an eerie levity and can be very funny though it is neither light nor whimsical. "Stevie Smith often uses the word 'peculiar' and it is the best word to describe her effects" (Hermione Lee). She was never sentimental, undercutting any pathetic effects with the ruthless honesty of her humour.[4] 
Apart from death, common subjects include loneliness; myth and legend; absurd vignettes, usually drawn from middle-class British life, war, human cruelty and religion.[4]Though her poems were remarkably consistent in tone and quality throughout her life, their subject matter changed over time, with less of the outrageous wit of her youth and more reflection on suffering, faith and the end of life. Her best-known poem is "Not Waving but Drowning". She was awarded the Cholmondeley Award for Poets in 1966 and won the Queen's Gold Medal for poetry in 1969.[6]

Stevie Smith reads The Sea Widow

Husky Rescue - The Long Lost Friend
P&C El Camino Records
www.elcaminorecords.com
info@elcaminorecords.com


Tree House

Reminiscent of one of my first posted songs, "Violet Light"

if you're listening and it means something to you, let me know xx

~~~~~~~~~~~

Pick me up on a Sunday
Drive me home, I live just below the grade 
Say you’re jaded in love and
You can’t stay
In the same place

Compliance isn’t my forte
Listen but I choose to ignore it
If I keep knocking 
You’ll have to open it 
That’s what I’m hoping 

Come apart in color 
Shades of you 
In better parts of me 
Covered us in deep blue 
While I’m bleeding

Purple haze 
The way you taste 
deep enough to drown in 

Lavender 
The way it hurts 
Love leaves pretty bruises 

Ultraviolet 
You’re still fighting 
I’m certain i just 
Colored 
in your lies

Turn around and you chase me
Swear that you only want me when I don’t 
Like to play Tug of war with my patience 
I can’t take it

This time I know it’s fleeting
The stars align for a while and then they move
Chalk it up as a loss and conceding
You don’t mean it 

Come apart in color 
Shades of you 
In better parts of me 
Covered us in deep blue 
While I’m bleeding

Purple haze 
The way you taste 
deep enough to drown in 

Lavender 
The way it hurts 
Love leaves pretty bruises 

Ultraviolet 
You’re still fighting 
I’m certain i just 
Colored 
in your lies

~~~~~~~~~~~

W.H. Auden reads The More Loving One

Poets Reading Poetry

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