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Mindravels: Carnaticism

by Julie Adams

weaving, with mid-stitch precision
uncharted doily snowflake notes
like bird-flight, in swoops
the song of healthy blood, flow
conversing in rhythmic banter
like tap, only deeper, like caves
inside, laughing out loud, taunting
following the trickle, streams
soaring over canyons, craters, lucid
like dreams, between consciousness and not,
or the footfalls of Southern India
heard midmorning at market

breath, in a throbbing beat
like emphasis

drumming bones begin anew, like rain
the clinking of ideas, patterns
like belly-picking, the hollow
tala echoes off ribs, vertebrae
resounding, like a didgeridoo in exhale
as buoyant as the pulse, inside
each present mind, speaking in tongues
to the chakras, like flamenco,
a 4th dimension of living,
like climbing air, kinetic
bursts of steps

then gliding on dragon's wings,
or dragonflies, by the fire
a rattlesnake flickers
in the darkness

11/10/2005

Author's Note: Music of South India @ World Music Network event in NYC, Oct 28, 2005--SMASHING! Title comes from the type of music: Carnatic.

Posted on 11/10/2005
Copyright © 2024 Julie Adams

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by Lacy D Phillips on 11/12/05 at 04:40 AM

Very evocative! And somewhat sensual.

Posted by Chris Sorrenti on 12/07/05 at 02:41 AM

Quite the buildup to a dynamite ending Julie!

Posted by Kathleen Wilson on 12/11/05 at 04:21 AM

Julie, this is a very fine description of this music, from the inside out! I love this and I know what it sounds and feels like. This is it. The contrast and combination of precision, even the "mid-stitch" pause, gap...and then the floating. The "dragon's wings" "dragonflies"...you have found images that can communicate the intensity and both simultaneous and alternating currents! Very musical!

Posted by Michael Faraday on 04/03/06 at 06:55 PM

meow! :)

Posted by Curt Allday on 05/11/06 at 06:55 AM

brilliantly crafted, scary, scary stuff, so great to read something i totally understand :)

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