Comments on: Over the Hills

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:26:29 +0000

Well, I don’t have any Tibetan monk-chanting on hand, but here’s a prayer from Ay-Kherel, the Tuvanese throat-singing group, with swan song mixed in:
http://www.vianegativa.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/swan-morgul.mp3

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:06:55 +0000

Glad you liked. Now you have me wondering what a throat-singing-swan song mashup would sound like.

By: Bluegrass Poet

Bluegrass Poet — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:22:46 +0000

What a completely eerie cry they have — sort of a balance to the sub-bass tones of the Tibetan monks that I heard on NPR this morning. I like the list, the contrast of the quarry’s megaphone with the cardinal’s song etc, the picture it draws of the clutter of rural poverty.

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:21:48 +0000

Evidently it was a Led Zeppelin song, too -- that one even has its own Wikipedia entry. I tend to avoid googling things that are really more about what I remember, because my memory is quite often inaccurate and learning the truth would tempt me to adjust my memory. The Burl Ives' song I remember was self-referential, refering to (another?) song called "Over the Hills and Far Away":

Tom he was the piper's son Learned to play when he was young and the only tune that he could play Was Over the Hills and Far Away...

The Wikipedia however says that the proper title of that song is "Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son" -- and that it's really a nursery rhyme. Hmm.

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:11:31 +0000

Thanks, Laura. I had hoped that parallel would be apparent without seeming over-drawn. The main criticisms I have about this poem are the sort that would occur to any author: Why isn't it more x, why doesn't it have more y? But I guess it succeeds at what it sets out to do.

By: Laura

Laura — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:17:55 +0000

I can’t think of anything critical to say here. I like what seems to me to be a parallel between the land’s eventual clearing of clutter and the broomswept small blue hill. Lovely poem, and I enjoyed listening and watching also.

By: Lucy

Lucy — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 06:29:16 +0000

Beggar’s Opera long before Burl Ives, and older than that. The little ‘I would gladly with thee stray/over the hills and far away…’ phrase is my mobile ringtone, which sounds pretty naff I know, but I got Tom to compose it using the compser mode, so no one else has one like it.

I love the thought of those swans, and this poem in general.

Also your ‘glyphs of wild onions’, calligraphic natural things always beguile!

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 04:18:16 +0000

Thanks, Marja-Leena (and thanks for catching that typo). I tried to make a video poem with this, but somehow it just didn't work out. I think my standards for videoetry have gotten too high as a result of working on the Moving Poems site.

By: marja-leena

marja-leena — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 03:52:03 +0000

I really like this, Dave, and the video too. (Um, should it be : there where the darkness disappears). I can just feel that wild call of the north.