Good music and surroundings
02/05/2005 04:00 p.m.
Like I said, I'm diving into my creative projects as a way to keep me going.
One project is a poetry sequence about the Shaker religion. I've bought music, postcards and books to surround myself with. When I hear the choral ladies sing "Come Life, Shaker Life," I get goose bumps. The poems in that series won't be all that pure and innocent. I mean, they couldn't procreate. No sex. How did they let out all that built up energy? In the old days, the 17 and 1800's, they whirled, spun, and sang like the devil, some people said. Ann Lee, the founder, especially.

Then seven of them went overseas to NYC and as generations passed and as new converters were brought to the villages, the religion continued.

As of 1996, I believe, there were only 11 Shakers left in the world. What does that mean? Are we missing something? A jigsaw of religion missing?

My second project is one on autism. I highly recommend the book "I Don't Want to Be Inside Me Anymore." Go on half.com to look for it. It's by Birger Sellin, a german lad.

It's amazing... and so is Nowhere Nobody (I think that's the title) by Donna Williams.
For that project I bought Phillip Glass music... music that seems to be repetative and spiraling..sometimes maddening... sometimes calm. Haven't started that series except for one poem... but I will get to them, probably over the summer.

So, what music do I suggest to write to? Think of the mood of the poem, like I did. For the Shakers, I'm listening to Shaker hymns, for the autism Phillip Glass, when I wrote the poem "Romantic Circus Songs" I tried to get old calliope circus music... but found that too cheery...which my poem was definitely not. I found the music of Yann Tiersen - the music writer for "Amelie" - to help me out. His own solo album, however. It sounded like a sad circus.

And as for the postcards of the Old Testement pictures, I'm making a binder for them and I will look at them when I write the Shaker poems.

So next time you sit down to write, think about what might aid you... drinking a certain drink? Alcohol? Tea? Coffee? Eating something from that time period... or listening to music that resonates with the tone of your poem.

Possibilities are endless.
I am currently Bleh
I am listening to Phillip Glass