(Anthony Braxton/Walter Thompson Orchestra
@ the Irondale Center 4/16/09)
it’s impossible for the hourglass to run out
in less than an hour
unless its neck is stretched or choked
or it shatters
or
you
stop
it
by
turning
over
before the sand
runs
out
or by turning it on its side
or…
impossible
for it
to run out of time unless it s
h
a
t
t
e
r ssssss
impossible
for it to run out
unless you stop it or
drop it
there is no time like the present
& it presents itself like always like a dancer
& its shadow / her shadow
with little time left echoed by sapranino
& a chorus of faux angels
& an agitated mob
(or we stop before the hourglass
does)
& another thing
if Jessie opens his mouth again
& teaches us anything beyond the fact
that the poor in spirit
are to be blessed
& that the
mourners shall all be comforted
i just might smash the hourglass meself
& watch
its stained fragments
mingle with the blood o’ lambs
gnarly hands held
some unknown figment
@ the
pulpit
pointing her finger
@ an open book
& what’s ta be read’s as confining
as any open book can get
not like notions & circleths
& mono-polymyths
& ’56 plymouths
or staying ahead of
the movement
just for the sound of it
& cross/conducting in a semi-hexagonal room
of wood plaster &
nice acoustics
it is always something to marvel @ - TIME -
& the hourglass if left to its own devices
sits dormant until reversed
if left to its own devices
remains constant
no matter what
time or day it is
or where
no matter what shape room it’s in
no matter what city or town
or country across the sea
or across the street
no matter how often one finds oneself
within the same situation
or how many times
or in how many languages
one describes the same
situation (mybody)
it is always a different experience
a different hour
no matter what the hourglass
may show us
just look at
your gnarly hands
my face
…or we stop before the circle closes
Steve Dalachinsky
Steve Dalachinsky was born after the last Big War
& has managed to survive lots of little wars.
His poems have appeared extensively in journals on
& off line including Big Bridge, Milk, Unlikely
Stories, Xpressed, Evergreen Review, Long Shot, Alpha
Beat Soup, Xtant, Blue Beat, Jacket, Unbearable Assemblage
Magazines, NY Arts Magazine, 88, Lost and Found Times,
plus such anthologies as Beat Indeed, The Haiku Moment
and the esteemed Outlaw Bible of American Poetry.
He has written liner notes for the CDs of many artists
including Anthony Braxton, James "Blood"
Ulmer, Rashied Ali, Roy Campbell, Matthew Shipp, Roscoe
Mitchell & many others. His 1999 CD, Incomplete
Direction (Knitting Factory Records), a collection
of his poetry read in collaboration with various musicians,
such as William Parker, Matthew Shipp, Daniel Carter,
Sabir Mateen, Susie Ibarra, Thurston Moore (SonicYouth),
Vernon Reid (Living Colour) has garnered much praise.
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