Beauty Notes – Typewriters and Pianos
— Let something call to you — a beautiful or frivolous object, a word, a picture, and then follow it, learn about it, ask questions about it. Maybe it’s a glitter ball, maybe it’s a typewriter.
— Disco balls or Glitter balls were patented in 1917, used in nightclubs in 1920. We know them from the movie Casablanca, and we remember Madonna’s disco ball entrance.
— Kingsley Amis called the typewriter an “alphabet piano.”
— In her book The Art of Resonance, Anne Bogart reminds that “the typewriter is a transformation modelled upon a piano.”
— The Gen AI gang like to quote (or paraphrase, let’s be real) T.S. Eliot (have they ever read Eliot? they might enjoy The Wasteland lol) who said, “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better or at least something different.” We hear the phrase, “steal like an artist,” often enough. Artists are allusive, though. Artists pay homage.
— Maybe we should all start imagining the phrase, “steal like a librarian.” You know, add the footnotes, the citations, the bibliography, the endnotes, the indexes. Still, that’s not really the writer’s or artist’s job. The work of art should make you want to delve, dig deeper into meanings, allusions, subtexts. Look how this worked after Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime gig.
— Every once in a while I share this one line poem I wrote and which appears in my book, The Flower Can Always Be Changing:
Poet’s Musical Background
by Shawna Lemay
When I type I dream I am playing Chopin.
— When I wrote this poem, I didn’t know that the “first typewriter prototype was made with 11 piano keys.” But also, when we type, we know.
— Listen here for Jon Batiste’s “Chopinesque.”
— “Goi Sensei taught that everything in this world is made up of vibrations. Even the thoughts put out by each individual become vibrations to circulate around the universe. If one puts forth a negative thought, this means that a negative force has been added to the mind of the world. The thoughts of each individual influence the destiny of mankind; in fact, they gather to form its destiny.”
“Visual images have enormous power. Artists send their images out into the world, sometimes without realizing their impact. Putting forth harmonious vibrations through art is essential for the well-being of society.” — Audrey Flack
— The elegance of a phrase can be something good to hold onto in difficult times. Again, Anne Bogart offers up the idea of “holding one’s seat.” It has to do with keeping our energy, which is something this time would like to drain from us. She speaks from someone with a background in horseback riding. She says, “maintaining our physical and mental attention over time is the key ingredient in the path to resonance.”
— Anger has its uses, no doubt about it. But it’s also addictive and draining. Bogart quotes Paul Simon:
“Anger is addictive. The brain likes it. It likes those chemicals. And we are becoming a nation of addicts. And who are the dealers? Beware when you feel anger coming from any direction. Not that we have no reason to be angry, of course we have many reaons to be angry. But the solution to problems comes from a calm mind. That’s the best way to do it. Remember, practice kindness.”
— Pema Chödrön uses the same terminology:
“There is a saying that the teacher is always with us. The teacher is always showing us precisely where we are at and encouraging us to relax and open our hearts and minds, encouraging us to not speak and act in the same old stuck ways, encouraging us also not to repress or dissociate. So with this one who is scaring you or insulting you, do you retaliate as you have one hundred thousand times before, or do you start to get smart and do something different?
Right at the point when you are about to blow your top, remember this: you are a disciple being taught how to sit still with the edginess and discomfort of the energy. You are a disciple being challenged to hold your seat and open to the situation with as much courage and as much kindness as you possibly can.”
— Flipping through a favourite book after talking to someone about how right now our being happy, making beautiful things, finding joy can be a bit of a delightful F-you to the evil powers that be, I come across the idea that we must put ourselves “relentlessly in possession of happiness.” Which is photographer Tim Carpenter quoting Wallace Stevens in his book To Photograph Is To Learn To Die. Stevens also saying that “the final elegance, not to console.”
— Stevens, again: “It is possible, possible, possible. It must be/ Be possible.”
— The answer to life is a yes, is a hallelujah. (Must be paraphrasing something from Clarice Lispector there).
— How to transform things? How to turn a piano into a typewriter?
— This is your moment, your life right now. It always has been. Don’t take it lightly. Keep your humour, hold your seat. Laugh. Delight. In the words of Tim Carpenter, “do not fuck this up.” The world is a mess, but you have your go at it. I repeat, hold your seat.
