NIGHTFIRE at Ice Lake, Eagle Cap Wilderness . . . [ click photo for next . . . ]
On the road in the American Northwest.

REAL passion,

REAL inspiration,

cannot be imitated.

That is why we imitate them.

FIREBIRD—a long-line sonnet

As in the middle of a calm ocean energies are said
To converge out of nowhere in one immense wave,
So in the Paris of 1910 the Arts surged in a floodtide,
Washing away 100 years of Wagnerian excess.

Gone are the rotund teutonic gods. Gone are the
Thick velvet sitting-room chords, the cadences of a clavary
In hot pursuit. Here is new balance, a dangerous balance
Of clear, cold stars looking upon pure passonate earth.

New beginnings. Empathy studies a panther in a cage.
Dancers catch the rhythms of Africa in their feet,
And the mystery of Russian folksong takes center stage.

Raw, naked movement, flashes, flares of orchestral élan,
Shooting sparks that are seen about fires on distant planets.
For angels know: meaning travels faster than light!

[upon seeing a recording of Igor Stravinsky conduct
his Firebird Suite with the London Symphony, c. 1964)

| listen to / download FIREBIRD mp3 [ 2 Mb] |
[Windows: r click; Mac: opt + click] |

X.19.2010
Ice Lake,
The North Wallowas

If you're a picture-poems fan, please visit my Living Water
Gallery—the best of my flowform photography w/ a selection
of quality prints & frames . . .

[ mouse over for controls / lower right fro full-screen ]

All photographs & texts by Cliff Crego © 2011 picture-poems.com
(created: VII.25.2009)