they’re playing the outside of the inside of their instruments
new found objects of pulse and percussion
vibrations listening to vibrations
symbols of cymbals
everything unsteady uncertain about to become something else
drums wandering in from another modality
letting the drummer converse with them in her language
while the bass takes itself for a walk down to the bar
where the guitar plays tunes only it can dance to
until the bass pleads like a gospel choir to be heard
and the drums turn to crickets and reeds and creaking furniture
they’re sawing all their instruments in half
in full view of the audience
and we believe they’ll put them back together
before the end of the set
she’s playing pick up sticks on the tom-tom
he’s tightened his bow until it stops on the strings like jammed brakes
he’s playing with a coat hangar wire from behind his guitar strings
tuning in the vibrations like radio waves
they’re making it all up as they go
both eyes closed
not looking at her left hand
arching her body over the drums
letting the tension toss her
tugged along by a story
he’s loosening the strings on his guitar
trying to find a melody in pure sound
he’s driving the same beat
all the way down the bow
they’re twisting it up
throwing it off
plucking
magpies in their own thick forest
wooden upright
wooden sticks
acoustic
After a performance by
Germaine Liu (percussion), Jim Sexton (upright bass),
Ken Aldcroft (guitar) in the leftover daylight series
at Somewhere There, December 2010
Nicholas Power 