The second piece made in 2007 based on my own poetry was "Seaside Elephant". Whereas in "This Story" I had applied transformations to short fragments of the source, this time the transformations are applied uniformly to the whole poem. In 2010 I made five more pieces based on my own poems, in each case again applying the principle that all transformations were to be applied to the whole of the source recording. I arranged the pieces in order such that the voice becomes more distorted as the sequence progresses. In the first piece the text is fairly clearly audible, by the middle of the sequence the voice is still identifiable though the words may not be, and by the end the sound is hardly even recognisable as a human voice. This sequence results in the original 2007 piece appearing at the end.
lyrics
Working Lemons
I. My Contribution to the Scientific Literature
What is there to say
about lemons,
the most unselfish of fruit?
The acid in their flesh
alerts our tongues
to whatever else we may be eating.
Rather like decaying soya beans, with vitamin C for protein,
I wrote.
II. A Day in the Life of a Working Lemon
Unemployed, I wake up late.
Tonight I must eat.
I must go in search of food.
There is no time to plant seeds –
I am too hungry to wait for results.
I could go out hunting –
chasing cabbages along the beach
or turnips across the hills.
No, that is a skill my ancestors forgot.
I must go to the supermarket and obtain
food for promises on paper.
Casually avoiding the dairyman and the fleshwoman
I arrive at the display of perfected plant life.
I pretend not to notice the young assistant
picking mushrooms from the floor
and rearranging them on the shelf –
those trodden beyond recognition
are gracefully kicked beneath the cabinet.
I wonder why I never buy
lemons, lettuce, lychees,
preferring less respectful fare.
Idly, I glance over
red apples, green apples, pineapples,
this week's special reductions –
what will it be tonight?
My first cherry tomato?
What could I use to liven up
yesterday's rice
or tomorrow's inquisitive potato?
Cautiously I handle a large Hungarian onion,
looking to see if the carrots are watching.
Dare I?
I arrive home with an out-of-date cauliflower,
rain-damaged bread,
last week's newspaper,
and a lemon.
III. Another Day
Another day, quite by accident,
I caught the end of a radio feature
about how lemons work.
Composer, improviser and sound artist based in Aberdeenshire and inspired by the landscapes of the North of Scotland. Solo
performances often combine poetry with live music. Has worked on many collaborations with writers, dancers, actors, musicians and visual artists....more
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