Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Improvisations off Riley Lee's Shakuhachi

Spaces take on in darkness definition
Harmonics coalesce in a cave
Stiff fingers flutter on bamboo
Only lips and breath to unmask
The spheres of mystery
The gills of the flute
Shake the walls
And clear the pipe free
The devil's flatted fourth
Impure rosary
The priests are mute
Rosemary monstrance
Dervish boots
Spirit twins are singing
Through hollow tubes
We all catch light in our eyes
Air in our throats
Tongueless flute
Floats over the smoke
Tying bird voices together with twine
Every well has a sound
Even rainbows form chords
As creaking trees accompany
The flute catches them
Like flies to a frog
The language of all that flies
Or gurgles in the marshes
Or rasps in the grass
Or moans in the reeds
A song neither sadness nor joy
Sacred arpeggios bring dreamtime to life
Halos of imagination
Like the viscera of nightime light
Seal a moment's impression
To permanent truth