Friday, February 13, 2009

"I speak downfall..."

I speak downfall, the ball of my foot
on the neck of the earth, the hardsong
of the rise of all trees, the jay
who uses the air. I am the recovered sickle
with the grass-stains still on the flint of its teeth.
I am the six-rowed barley
they cut down.



From "Merce of Egypt" by Charles Olson, written for Merce Cunningham.*




Video of Merce Cunningham and company in Septet, 1964, from Google Video.


*You should be able to read the complete poem as it appears in Selected Writings of Charles Olson (New Directions, 1966) at Google Books.

2 comments:

chayaruchama said...

That man's body is so eloquent, just the 'stills' choke me up.

what singularly powerful verse.

Thank you...

BitterGrace said...

Dave loves both Olson and Cunningham, so this was kind of a Valentine to him.

I have the same response to MC. I am disappointed that there isn't more footage of him on the Web. Have you seen the bio documentary "A Lifetime of Dance?" I gave the DVD to Dave for Xmas a few years ago. It's wonderful. Cunningham is a brilliant, fascinating man.