Inspiration: Theodore Roethke

I studied Roethke while working on my (economically worthless) English degree at the University of Toledo. The son of German immigrants, he grew up in Saginaw, MI and graduated from the University of Michigan then moved on to Harvard. His childhood home in Saginaw, Mi is now a museum where special events and poetry readings are held. While teaching at Michigan State in Lansing they figured out he was bipolar, which probably explains why he didn't stay teaching at one college for very long. He died of a heart attack in a friends swimming pool in 1963--the pool was filled in and made into a Zen rock garden.

As a teacher, Roethke insisted that his students memorize poetry so they would have something to hold on to during tough times. One poem that I have memorized, and yes, it comes to mind during tough times, is "In a Dark Time":

In a dark time, the eye begins to see,
I meet my shadow in the deepening shade;
I hear my echo in the echoing wood—
A lord of nature weeping to a tree.
I live between the heron and the wren,
Beasts of the hill and serpents of the den.

What’s madness but nobility of soul
At odds with circumstance? The day’s on fire!
I know the purity of pure despair,
My shadow pinned against a sweating wall.
That place among the rocks—is it a cave,
Or winding path? The edge is what I have.

A steady storm of correspondences!
A night flowing with birds, a ragged moon,
And in broad day the midnight come again!
A man goes far to find out what he is—
Death of the self in a long, tearless night,
All natural shapes blazing unnatural light.

Dark, dark my light, and darker my desire.
My soul, like some heat-maddened summer fly,
Keeps buzzing at the sill. Which I is I?
A fallen man, I climb out of my fear.
The mind enters itself, and God the mind,
And one is One, free in the tearing wind.

Here's a short film featuring Theodore Roethke, also titled "In a Dark Time".



  

Favorite Rolling Stones Covers

Back in 1988 I painted houses for a notorious Ypsilanti "property owner" who rented to students. One time I was painting an apartment where someone was living and they let me use their boombox while I worked. Their musical taste did not gel with mine, but I saw a Rolling Stones CD and figured I'd give it a spin. After all, "Satisfaction" was a cool song. After a few hours of listening to the CD over and over I came to appreciate the Stones.

What I really dig are weird covers of songs by the Rolling Stones. Here are a few of my favorites:

I don't remember where I heard Polyphonic Size performing "Mother's Little Helper", but somehow I ended up with the 12" from a used record store. I love the stripped down techno music and French accent.

Another favorite cover is a live recording of Tuxedomoon doing "19th Nervous Breakdown" in German.

And finally, there's the French version of "Paint it Black" by Marie Laforet. You may have heard it in the movie "Talladega Nights".