Daniel Lanois

Daniel Lanois is one of my favorite musicians.  His music has always combined an earthy sensuality with spiritual yearning.  In his most recent works, he has given greater prominence to his spiritual side.  The music on "Shine", "Belladonna" and "Rockets" inspired me to write these three poems.  If you follow the links to Danny's website and listen to the compositions before reading the poems, I think the imagery will be a bit more intelligible.  It was difficult for me to write about something belonging to the inner world, something that cannot be experienced with our senses wholly attuned, as they are, to the outer world.

http://www.redfloorrecords.com/Belladonna.htm

http://www.redfloorrecords.com/Rockets.htm

Belladonna

body cradled --caressed-- borne aloft on singing steel

the air--dense, thick and heavy

entirely enveloped in palpable sound bearings are lost a return to uncreated (space) --vibration is all-- images born from blind sensation understanding beyond reasoning an eyeless knowing that lights up every cell (with reality deeper than experience)

The 2 Angels

--1— your angel is bright, all light heat and shine, the way ahead lit (up) like a thousand Fourth of July’s, the embrace--firm, warm, it cannot be mistaken.

my angel is the dark half-- a creature moving only in obscurity, coming from a land where eyes are useless. like a blind man other senses are called into play-- a trembling sensitivity to the slightest breath across cold skin, to the lightest brush, to a darkness so cold it burns, plunged into the void the only way ahead unknowable, I must wait for a push to propel my eyeless feet forward ears straining to hear the call looking to be reassured that on this journey there is a companion

trust, it all comes down to trust, no way to judge the players without signposts or landmarks, only a voice that calls without words and sings by playing the hearts of those who go before-- a faint song hinting at journeys yet to come, still no promise of safe harbor journey’s ease or a distant dawn.

--2— from your bright angel you plunge your hand into my dream journey and--for an instant--we brush against

the full brilliance of your bright guide. you transmit to me the one who lights your way and fills you with indestructible refulgence. my eyes--no longer used to light-- are closed to direct experience, but the glow fills you with a shine my blind fish eyes can still discern, its beauty carries me away lifted high on vibrations of singing steel-- be my light be my eyes make me believe in hope and tomorrow, never forget those whose angel is the dark unknowable lover

Beyond Beauty

(for Daniel Lanois)

something indestructible deep inside burning, and only the dreaming eye suspects its presence

without perceptible heat without sensible light a stranger even to the heart

its only betrayal subtle vibrations that make metal sing-- and the voice go silent

deeper still than emotion in the whispering of a love in the silence of certain hope