Dao De Jing 17

Dao De Jing 17

The one who ranks highest is scarcely known by the people;

The one who ranks second, they love & praise;

The one who ranks third, they fear;

The one who ranks fourth, they despise.

If you have no trust, no trust will be shown you in return.

The sage removes himself, as if his words are precious.

When the work is done & duties performed successfully, the people say: “We did this ourselves!”

Laozi, 道德經

Translation by John Hayes

The translation is is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. 

Unlike with my original poetry & poetry translations, I don’t asset a copyright claim on my translation of the Dao De Jing. It may be freely used under the terms of the Creative Commons license.

Image links to its source on Wiki Commons:

Statue of a Taoist sage. 16th century. Photo by Wiki user BurgererSF, who makes it available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal PublicDomain Dedication.

Sunflower Sky Octet

Sunflower Sky Octet

(8/17/17)

                        for Sandy

it’s August & the garden sunflower grows

heavy above the rosemary & the lawn’s

chaotic Queen Anne’s lace; it might even droop

away from unclouded sky—nothing to see

there except the sun & you can’t look at that

long—but see what it inscribes casting shadows:

this that weary glad hungry loving thee me—

look at the zenith! the pale yellow petals!

Jack Hayes

© 2017

Checking in on the poetry front with the title poem from the most recent collection, which will when finished in early October complete the trilogy started last autumn with Crow on the Wire. The second book, The High Lonesome Sound, should be available within the next couple of weeks. Thanks as always for your interest in my poetry.

Photo © 2017 by  Sandy Pullella. All rights reserved on poem & photograph.

Myself When Young

Welcome back to Sunday music on Robert Frost’s Banjo—& this week it’s even posting on Sunday.

We’re wrapping up this month’s feature on Dorothy Ashby with the opening track from her 1970 Cadet album The Rubaiyat of DorothyAshby. This release not only features Ashby as a vocalist, but she also plays koto in addition to harp. The Allmusic review I’ve linked to the album title is well worth a read; reviewer Thom Jurek concludes his write-up with this statement: “For those who remain open, this may be her greatest moment on record.”

For those who are interested, here’s a Wikisource link to Edward Fitzgerald’s famous 19^th century translation of “The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam”; the poems provide the text for Ashby’s songs.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this look at Ashby’s work & have been inspired to explore her music more thoroughly.

Image links to its source on Wiki Commons:

“This is the cover art for The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby by the artist Dorothy Ashby. The cover art copyright is believed to belong to the label, Cadet, or the graphic artist(s).” Wiki Commons claims “Fair Use” for the image.

Django

My apologies for how late this “Sunday music” post is!

We continue our DorothyAshby series with a track from her 1984 Phillips album, Django/Misty; here we have Ashby’s take on John Lewis’ composition, “Django”, named of course after the great guitarist Django Reinhardt.

There isn’t much background information available on the Django/Misty recording. Ashby recorded this & Concierto de Aranjuez for Phillips in 1984; they were her final albums as a leader, & indeed came after a 14 year absence as a leader on a recording. Before Django/Misty, her previous lead had been on the 1970 Cadet release, The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby. Ashby did considerable work as a sideman in the 1970s, however, appearing with such notables as Stanley Turrentine, Bill Withers, Billy Preston, Freddie Hubbard, as well as on Stevie Wonder’s great Songs in the Key of Life album—yes, that’s Ashby playing harp on “If It’s Magic”.

We’ll return next Sunday (I hope next Sunday!) with the final installment in the Ashby series. Enjoy!

Image links to its source on Wiki Commons:

Per Wiki Commons: This is the cover art for the album Django/Misty by the artist Dorothy Ashby. The cover art copyright is believed to belong to Philips Records.

Wiki Commons claims “Fair Use” for the image.

Games

We return to Sunday music with this month’s featured artist, jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby.

Today’s selection is Ashby’s composition “Games” from her 1968 Cadet release, Afro-Harping. This album features Ashby backed by an apparently unknown orchestra (including theremin on some cuts). Allmusic reviewer Ron Wynn describes Afro-Harping as “the best and most complete album done by jazz harpist …Dorothy Ashby”; Joshua Weiner, writing for the all about jazz site finds the album more a product of its particular time, a proto example of acid jazz, but still describes the music as “fascinating”, & goes on to write:

Those interested in 60s mod will enjoy it for its own sake, while others will be provided with an interest-piquing introduction to a largely forgotten instrument, and musician, in jazz.

Hope you enjoy it.

Image links to its source on Wiki Commons:

“This is the cover art for Afro-Harping by the artist Dorothy Ashby. The cover art copyright is believed to belong to the label, Cadet, or the graphic artist(s).” Wiki Commons claims fair use for this low-resolution image.

Dao De Jing 16

Dao De Jing 16

Come to utmost emptiness,

preserve deep stillness.

The ten thousand things arise as one,

& as we see return to their source.

Returning to the source is called stillness—returning thus is unchanging fate;

where the unchanging is known there’s wisdom,

where the unchanging isn’t known, there’s lawlessness.

Knowledge of the unchanging embraces all, & embracing all is justice.

justice then is majesty, majesty then is divine, the divine then is the Way;

the Way endures through time.

One who follows the Way is free from peril even until death.

Laozi, 道德經

Translation by John Hayes

The translation is is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. 

Unlike with my original poetry & poetry translations, I don’t asset a copyright claim on my translation of the Dao De Jing. It may be freely used under the terms of the Creative Commons license.

Image links to its source on Wiki Commons:

“Four Immortals Saluting Longevity”: Shang Xi, early Ming Dynasty, hanging scroll, Color on silk. (“The immortals are from left to right: Shide standing on a broom, Hanshan standing on a banana leaf, Iron-Crutch Li standing on a crutch, and Liu Haichan riding a 'Chan Chu' three footed toad. The being riding the crane is the Longevity Star God”).

Public domain.

Distant Footsteps

Distant Footsteps

My father’s sleeping. His august countenance

implies a gentle heart;

just now so sweet…

if there’s anything bitter in him, that will be me.

there’s loneliness in this household; praying;

and there’s no news of the children today.

My father wakes, auscultates

the flight into Egypt, the stanching goodbye.

He’s now so close;

if there’s anything distant in him, that will be me.

And my mother walks there in the orchards,

savoring a flavor already without flavor.

She’s now such softness,

such a wing, such an exit, such love.

There’s loneliness in the home without any racket,

without news, without green, without children.

And if anything’s broken this afternoon,

and falls and creaks,

it’s two roads, white, curved.

My heart moves along them on foot.

César Vallejo, “Los pasos lejanos”

Translation by Jack Hayes

© 2017

Image links to its source on Wiki Commons:

"Flucht nach Ägypten": Hans Sandreuter; oil on canvas; 1885.

Public domain.