Or, The Hymn for Leica’s Century and the Meeting at Whitney
To be performed May 2nd, for Yggdrasil’s Daughter and the Shadow Cat
( i n p a r t s | s o m e h i d d e n )
The Launching
We build, oh Leilah, a ship of cosmic discharge,
Powered by universal divinity from the core—
And the starting point was her,
At Firenze’s river, where bats chase the sun
Into the horizon’s burning drawer.
We spoke of lengths we traversed,
childhood friends, playing across that bridge
On the river of the Ursula mountains—
(I bear her name, I bear the ridge).
Acts by:
Laurie Anderson
Leica Camera
Spela Sipek
Cerkev sv. Uršule Uršlja gora
Romano Crivici (Die, Der und Das in June)
The plan unfolds:
To meet Laurie Anderson and the Leica Camera team,
May 2nd in Manhattan’s steel and dream,
(@) Whitney Museum of American Art
Where Big Science and the century gleam.
( f o r s o m e : i n p a r t s : : f o r s o m e : i n w h o l e )
// poem in the comments, not anew
"Mijaouw", to dare the passenger, she mijaouwed, my feral shadow cat.
……
"The title track, from Laurie Anderson landmark ’82 album, Big Science, is out now."
Out—how?
What happened in 4724?
If you’d like, I can explain it plain,
Perfect for a school project’s refrain:
Small Science is the volcano in your kitchen,
Crystals growing in sugar and rain.
But Big Science? That’s the spaceship to Mars—
You can’t do that in your garage!
You need permission.
Permission to what?
Permission by what?
Permission to do?
Permission to be?
Life’s as short and as dirty
As a little child’s shirt.
Be like little children.
Huge budgets?
Be like little children.
Massive machines?
Be like little children.
International collaboration?
Be like little children.
( i n p a r t s | s o m e h i d d e n )
( aka: waiting for the barbarians )
'A Testament for The Giving'
For the very birth of Big Science—
Give Laurie Anderson a turning point, a break!
The Manhattan Project and the Kybalion.
The Cold War begun, well before it ended—money ($$$).
Give Laurie Anderson the Human Genome Project.
Give Laurie Anderson CERN & the Large Hadron Collider.
Give Laurie Anderson the money ($$$), the people, the machines,
and the place—deep underground—
where 100 years of light are found,
extending 17 miles, crossing borders
between Switzerland and France;
For the remains of thousands of scientists
from over 100 countries,
we went anew to Rwanda’s heart of gold
to discover what’s buried in the most dreaded soul.
In ultimate reality, however,
No Science can be found.
( i n p a r t s | s o m e h i d d e n )
// with Laurie Anderson for Tiny Desk (Home) Concert and a few satellites
The Incantation of the Cosmic Name
"How is your majesty known, and what is your name?"
Big Science. Hallelujah. Big Science. Yodellayheehoo!
"Hey Professor! Could you turn out the lights? Let’s roll the film."
Here’s a man who lives a life of danger.
Everywhere he goes, he stays—a stranger.
Big Science. Hallelujah.
Every man for himself?
"But if a man should come to me and say he had a science, would he have in his hand a science?"
It is by its parts that the science exists as a conventional name.
Spela would understand.
Just as we say Science because of the pole,
the axle, the wheels, the body, and analytics—
so is it that when the parts are present
we use the word Big Science
as a conventional term.
In ultimate reality, however,
No Science can be found.
…
( i n p a r t s | s o m e h i d d e n )
( i n p a r t s | s o m e h i d d e n && Romano Crivici)
The Declension by The Speed of Darkness
Only Die, Der and Das, in June.
Der, die, das Hemd, das ein Kindeshemd hat,
Das kurz und beschissen ist,
Unter der Regenbogenbrücke wartest du,
Dass der Regen vergeht,
Der Regen des Herzens
Von dem Blizzard, Blizzard, Blizzard—
Ein Blizzard, den keine Wirtschaftswissenschaft versteht.
Das ist der, die, das und das,
Das, die, der und dass,
Bei dem, der, die und das,
Und was? Warum? Wieso?
Man stellt keine Fragen. Die Frage stellt den Mann.
Das ist die Heimat eines Blizzards.
Danke schön.
Only Die, Der and Das, only in June.
As children, we used toplay, with toys?
In ultimate reality, however,
No Science can be found.
…
( i n p a r t s | s o m e h i d d e n )
Leica’s 100 years await us
With one-of-a-kind, gigantic eyes—
The Whitney Museum holds the gate
For this crossing, this iCross, this prize.