bird, no.1

I missed the window

hit beak to brick

fell to the ledge

tried to write a word

and then the tv came on in the other room

drowning out the consonant waves

of dream and early morning light

breeze and sun, bird and a setting moon

now the canned laughter and staged outrage

my flight disoriented into brick

when I aimed for an opening into

the wide sky

Artifact

 

 simply that, in its destruction
 finds its function but
 to hold   it    is what’s sufficient
  
 the electromagnetic spectrum 
 condensed, becomes
 a laden sum 
 of place and affect
  
 to you, archaeologist, all are ostraca,
  
 fragmented letters from
 a discarded accounting,
 an anonymity celebrated
 as the revelation of a voice
  
 but there is more
 in being lost, then found
 than the mundane named 

notes on erosion (pt. 1)

 
 

 the confluence of structure
 fluidity mired in existence
 a seepage of muck, crud;
 in it, no breathable space
  
 and I find that the 
 desire of it burns as
 strong as the impossibility 
 of it crushes
  
 and I find that the 
 will of it strives as
 hard as the negation 
 of it suppresses
  
 what I need is time
 what I think is time
 what I must have is
  
 duration, eras pass
 in soft rotations
 my life is spent
 spent again
  
 newly acquired state
 of currency
 the now of it
 is the death of it
  
 seek decomposition
 re-entry into this food
 chain of vegetal life
 sacred work expired
  
 time to turn the muck over
 where time is the fifth element
 allowing for the breaking
 avoiding conflagration
  
 new form
 rendered molecular
 to be taken in and up
 and held so close 
 to the center/heart
 that it becomes
 that which holds it 

I Remember Her

When I lived in Tucson, Arizona one of my favorite things to do was wander around the Tanque Verde Swap Meet. One of my best finds there were a series of Super 8 films made in the late 50s or early 60s, home movies depicting a couple’s lives in Japan and the Western United States (with a notable detour to some ice fishing perhaps in the North East). I compiled some of the films and made a soundtrack based on a piece I wrote in memory of a dear friend who passed. The film has a kind of dream-like melancholy that matched the memorial nature of the piece.

Ambient Artifact (Live)

Ambient Artifact is a soundscape project that records directly to tape, using the tape as a painter might use different media for textural and color saturation possibilities. On January 11th, 2021, I was asked to do a video and audio recording for a class on virtual presentations for CalArts by John Baffa. The session is a look at my process for the Ambient Artifact series, of course without the benefit of tape saturation. John’s playing with the color saturation helps get the feel of tape even if the capture is digital.

Journey to the Habitable Planet

Recorded “compositions in the moment” by trumpet player Noah Thomas, Journey to the Habitable Planet presents six pieces exploring themes of inner and outer space travel. It was recorded in an eight hour period at TV Tray Studio, Casitas Springs, CA, engineered by Grammy award recipient John Baffa (CalArts). The album features the haunting interplay between electronic textures created on theremin and analog delay effects with trumpet work reminiscent of Don Cherry, late ’60s Miles Davis or the free playing of Booker Little.