Greetings, One & All~
Your July A 440 Newsletter arises like a mirage from a desert oasis: concentric ripples on an ancient pond, set in motion by a dragonfly’s deft pluck. Enjoy!
Somewhere New
The new Heart Dance Records album Somewhere New by Sherry Finzer & Mark Holland will be officially released on July 20th. I contributed my pan-global percussive pulse to seven of the twelve tracks, and tried to take the groove somewhere new on this lush and varied tapestry of flutes, piano, guitar and harp.
three links for listening and pre-ordering:
https://sherryfinzerandmarkholland.bandcamp.com/album/somewhere-new
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/somewhere-new/1394213715
Transformation Radio
On Wednesday July 18th at 4-5 PM PT (7-8 PM ET) I’ll be interviewed on the new Transformation Talk Radio Network show From Here to There with host Dyan Garris. We’ll be discussing the healing power of music during the last twelve minutes of the hour.
Click on Listen Now at www.transformationtalkradio.com and call in at 800.930.2819
Rhythmic Recovery
Speaking of the healing power of music, on Wednesday July 25th from 1-3 PM I’ll conduct the first installment of my new music therapy workshop Rhythms of Recovery for clients at Acceptance Recovery Center in Scottsdale AZ.
photo courtesy John Running Photography / Canyon Records
Poem of the Month
In the stillness of a Sonoran Desert summer, one notices how the timeless flow of nature and the timely currents of human nature sometimes reflect each other, the way the surface of a pond might mirror the sky. As we wait for the monsoon rains to begin, this Poem of the Month serves as a metaphor for those mutually illuminating realities.
Waiting for Rain
The quality of mercy is not strained;
it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
upon the place beneath.
Beautiful brutality: oxymoronically Shakespearean
how the hottest driest winds blow hardest
just as all the desert bloom is letting go.
Sometimes it’s good to snap an empty pen in two,
release those scrambled ions in one angry burst,
immerse oneself in mindless ordinary chores.
How few of us are born and live and die
in one small town at the end of the road;
how many have fled unspeakable cruelty
on the thinnest wisp of hope,
had children taken from us
for the crime of having nowhere else to go?
Bone-dry triple digits:
thirsty deer come by at dusk
to empty just-filled water bowls.
Even our hawk craves the refreshment
of play, splashing unselfconsciously
in the birdbath beneath the olive tree.
It’s the least among us who most need
that unstrained quality, that merciful rain:
one kind word, one gentle touch.
Sometimes the great lines
that started the world
don’t make it on stage for the play.
Might as well berate the wind, try
to cry down a cloud, pray the sun
won’t rise, curse the sapphire skies.
© Will Clipman 2018
Photo of the Month
Another seasonal event we await with ‘bated breath here in Sonora is the once-a-year flowering of the night-blooming cereus at the summer solstice. Photographer R. Craig Clipman captured its momentary magic and shares this shot as your Photo of the Month.
photo courtesy R.C. Clipman Photography
