jónsi sang go

jónsi sang go

i thought i was ready to throw off
winter’s weight as soon as spring
peeked from the ground, softened
the stark dark trees, that i too
could again be green and colour
and soft earth, but the cold
deadness clung with suffocating
hands to its post, dug in deep
and obstinate. so i took jónsi on a walk.
out through the sunlit streets, filled
my eyes with petalspetalspetals
all orangeredyellowwhitepink.
the magnolias bursting – branches
once heavy burdened with snow
and ice – now in flight against blue sky
waving their arms adorned (aburst!)
with pinkwhite blossoms, sharing
their glory with the grass below – a sprinkling
of pinkwhite salt seasoning the green.
my feet sang along – starting and stopping,
turning, slowing, lifting (sometimes imagining
in their minds – twirling) and then i found a tree
and sat beneath it when what i really wanted
was to lay on the grass, gazing up

it took a moment, but my feet
talked me into it – “go do”
they sang with jónsi – so i lay back
and the streets were no more –
just me, the tree, the blue and
masses of white cloud creating
a moving landscape beyond
the dark stark branches
sprinkled with leaf buds.
occasionally birds flew past.
and once a dry brown leaf skittered
from the ground up over me
its dead dryness somehow
a part of this simple playful
scene of bluewhitebrown
while i lay, one with the green

“no one knows you, till it’s over”
maybe that means even me.
maybe i’ll be surprised by
who i can be when it’s over.

*inspired by jónsi's album, go.

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sigur rós

i've known of sigur rós for several years now, possibly five or six. but i've never owned an album or even listened (knowingly) to an entire one. there've just been a few songs that friends have shared with me that i've listened to over and over.

when i heard that they were playing in kc this summer something in me knew i couldn't miss this. even though it was nearly $30, i had to go.

ethereal. childlike. imaginative. playful. inspiring. delightful.

these are just a few words to describe the experience. i don't know what the land of iceland does to create its musicians, but bjork and emiliana, also embody these - have this amazing full-range of voice.

there were moments when the music would fill every corner of the theatre with its loudness. and there were moments when the single sound of the bells or one voice could fill everything with its quietness. sometimes all eyes were drawn to the stage where magical onion-like globes hung suspended in coloured lights, glowing yellow from within. and there were times when the lights fanned out green across the ceiling and into the crowd. once i even noticed how the bank of lights cast a shadow on the ceiling - a normally mundane tangle of wires and cylinders suddenly mysterious and part of the beauty filling up the room.

watching the band, it was the music that played them; they themselves were the instruments. the way they would sometimes all quiet themselves so that one could play or sing; the rest still. eyes down. waiting, listening for where the music wants to go next.

during the encore song, i watched as jónsi sang. for the first time during the evening, he held nothing in his hands. and they couldn't be still. couldn't stay down at his sides, where he tried to keep them. they found their way up, first one, then the other.

my only complaint: i'd love to hear them w/o a yelling crowd. i sense the band understands how to use silence and i'd love to experience that.

*inspired by sigur rós's Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust album.

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