I got some quality time to continue working on the outline for "The Book of Rough Metaphors" - and just like when I was working on "Dark Corners" which became "House of Wolves" - Katey was curled up right at my feet and I played classical music all afternoon. For some reason - while working on this new work - I'm listening to Gorecki and Arvo Part - where while writing HOW - it was mostly men's choral work (classical stuff).
Outlining is hard work - and I'm attaching ideas to this and that. Part's work glues to this new work so wonderfully - because Metaphors is going to be a much darker, less romantic work - and more real in the sense that like Part's work - the world of the protagonist never resolves into a more pleasing key.
Does that make sense?
Take my favorite Part work for instance - the "teDeum". It's a greek orthodox mass - PURPOSELY written a 1/4 tone sharp - so when the big grand resolves come - it doesn't really resolve. which is often how real life experiences come at us. The recording I prefer - with the Estonian Chamber Choir - is sublime and frighteningly complex. The work is scored for three choirs (women’s choir, men’s choir, and mixed choir), prepared piano, divisi strings, and wind harp - and the text of the Tedeum is serious stuff too!
(cut and paste from Part's liner notes)
"The hymn follows the outline of the Apostles' Creed, mixing a poetic vision of the heavenly liturgy with its declaration of faith. Naming God immediately, the hymn proceeds to name all those who praise and venerate God, from the hierarchy of heavenly creatures to those Christian faithful already in heaven to the Church spread throughout the world. The hymn then returns to its creedal formula, naming Christ and recalling his birth, suffering, and glorification. At this point the hymn turns to the subjects declaiming the praise, both the Church in general and the singer in particular, asking for mercy on past sins, protection from future sin, and the hoped-for reunification with the elect."
It's an interesting piece to examine, research and may indeed become part of the new work - it's an interesting parallel to the self searching "uberspirit" find the devine in yourself "sense" of Rumi poetry ---- instead - asking for mercy from a single God whom we should give all praise - and hope for protection and forgiveness from. so it's had my mind in a very, very interesting place. IT's interesting that Emerson, whos quote inspired House of Wolves, also was about the ubermind - the joint conciousness. I seem to be mining some of my same ideas and desires through another muse.
The outline - based on 12 stanzas of Rumi poetry - is coming along VERY nicely - it's intricate - insurmountable - and concentrated. all the characters are unnamed - in each sketch I've written - they have different names - and places. its all very loose and the brainstorm is very free.
Earlier this morning (i promise I'll stop rambling in a moment) I was reading "On the Rez" by Ian Frazier. (a gift to read from my friend Eric) and the author opens with a talk about how the true freedom of the native american got absorbed into the modern American credo.
He says "the freedom that inhered in Powhatan , that Red Cloud carried with him from the plains to Washington - as easy as the air - a freedom to be, and to say, whenever, regardless of disapproval - has become a luxury most of cannot afford."
Freedom is such an elusive concept - even in the most incredibly free country on earth. We are capable of creating such dark fortresses and cages for ourselves - denying ourselves SO much.
Personal freedom - the choice to live with an inherent freedom in your life? is a choice that all this research and journeying prior to writing word one of "metaphors" - is really making for some interesting groundwork. this is going to be one hell of a journey.
Part's TeDeum ends with a soprano soloist - repeating the latin word sanctus (holy) - over and over until it's a whisper that disappears into silence... the last time she says the word - she literally speaks it. then the score calls for 10 seconds of silence before the conductor lowers his hands.
the effect is awe inspiring - that conviction - like an echo to leave if the listeners mind.
I want "rough metaphors" to leave the reader with the concept of freedom (licentia!, libertas!) reverberating in the moss of their mind. (a play on one of my favorite Thoreau qoutes; that knowledge is the freedom that will scrape the moss from men's minds)
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