the birds

[Alan Sondheim]

the birds


i assigned the thrashers the lower part of the first half -
i assigned the catbirds the second and third parts of the first half -
to the fourth part i assigned catbirds -
to the upper half i assigned woodpeckers -
to the keyboard i assigned stop twenty-six on the alesis reverb -
i assigned the deepest forest of primordial connecticut massachusetts -
the length and breadth of primordial connecticut massachusetts -
to the looping parameters sixty and sixty-one i assigned oo and ff -
the full looping of the primordial birds -
i would play the birds neither as chorus nor choir nor parliament -
the birds were neither medieval nor debating -
nor were they discussing the exigencies of love in desperate times -
they were lonely in their nestings and their calls were mournful -
they yearned for communality in the dark and primordial forest -
they called on occasion and called on occasion in their loneliness -
calling and calling in the primordial forest of sound -


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