My pathetic attempt at a commemorative tanka :)
Kicking and screaming.
Dragged to the Jazz Fest again.
This is the third time.
But Dave Brubeck played this year,
and he's a good pianist.
Ok, ok, so it stinks. :) I tried. I couldn't come up with a good ending. Anyone want to help me out? :) Maybe I need an editor. But anyway, yes, Kevin twisted my arm once again to go to the annual Detroit Labor Day Jazz Fest. I live in Detroit. How can I not go with him? :) For those of you that don't know me very well, I really don't like jazz much. I think its because I still don't get it!!!!! Kevin has tried for three years now to explain it to me, and I get the concept (sort of), but when I listen to it I just don't get it. :) But, one of Kevin's favorite pianists (Dave Brubeck) was playing, so I went yet again. He really was a good pianist. You can see a picture of him and his quartet below. He's obviously the one at the piano. :)
posted by Kelley at 7:14 PM
6 Comments:
i thought of you guys all weekend while i sat at my computer and fielded phone calls. (i'm listening to regina carter's motor city moments even now, in fact.) actually, it was kind of neat because NPR's jazz this evening was commemorative of new orleans artists. i played a game of settlers tonight with a couple and we were trying to find ways to reenact that "brush on snare" sound with items close at hand. (TIP: "fork on ceramic plate" is not a socially acceptable substitute for the "brush on snare" sound.) anyway, your tanka is commemorative, and that's the point--so, good. i don't know much of dave brubeck. have you heard the jon mayer trio? was wynton there this year? did you have comparable seats?
9:50 PM
Joy-nope, never heard of Jon Mayor or his trio. We sat on a wall, and couldn't really see them in person, but we could see the tv screen. No, Wynton wasn't there.
Gwen-I didn't know what tanka was either, but Kevin was writing it on his blog, so I figured it out--its pattern is 5-7-5-7-7
4:49 PM
57577, yep. AND just needs to be commemorative. actually, the japanese tradition has some sordid elements, but the good part we as believers can reenact is that after a dinner party or whatnot, if it was a really good time, they'd write a tanka about it. it would help them remember, grant closure, all that fun stuff.
my favorite tanka so far, and it helps you remember the form's purposes:
ad verse
they said in japan
all great experiences
ought come to an end
in tanka form, so i will
just not write tanka for this
9:55 PM
oh, which being interpreted is:
it can be taken either way (or both?), i guess...
a) i didn't want a good experience to come to an end (so i avoided writing tanka for it, in hopes that would put off the inevitable conclusion).
b)i thought it was a bad experience undeserving of a tanka.
either way, or both. tankas are fun.
9:59 PM
I took it as the first. But, now that I see both, I could see it as either. :)
I taught my kids about tanka/haiku today. :) I need to learn more about poetry.
6:18 PM
i think kids like japanese poetry because it's simple enough to wrap your mind around, even if you've never really done it before, and yet it's bottomless/limitless for making up your own metaphors.
one problem with my haiku--i tend to not write about nature always, and this is a technical faux pas. there is supposed to be some natural element involved. my first ever was about a blade of grass, though. and kids--they can hack very good haiku even on their first attempts.
10:58 PM
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