The Be-Loving Imaginer Martin Bidney

I celebrated my 80th birthday by writing 80 odes in reply to the 6 masterly ones by Keats and in response, quite often, to his other poetry as well, mainly sonnets.

 

“46. Ode to My Neighborhood” is a kind of jubilant “happy birthday” response to the pleasures of a peaceful, friendly life; it’s in in the Mr. Rogers style.

 

“Reply 37: ‘Ode on Autumn,’ by John Keats,” shows you the paradigm I adopt for my neo-Keatsian tribute book.

 

“37. Ode on Art-writing” introduces an extended venture into “ecphrastic” writing, where I interpret the many works of visual art produced during her younger years by my daughter Sarah.

 

“36. Ode on Dance Posters” offers a vivid reminiscence that brought to mind many remembered moments of exercise-excitement available to children awhirl.

 

“Reply 36: ‘The Lover’s Dervish Whirl’” is an original rhapsody aroused by the dance-writing.

The YouTube, like the book, has two parts, each with two subsections.

 

1a.  Poems 12. Id and 22. Bulbous show how to hybridize a traditional sonnet with a new number of beats per line and a new kind of rhythm unit (e.g., three-syllable instead of two).

 

1b.  Poems 13. Dividends and 25. Haste show how hybridized sonnets can be used to write “replies” to random passages in the
Qur’an, which I love as part of the Judaeo-Christo-Islamic Tradition.

 

2a.
Poems 49. Sophia and 46. Sea-Farewell show hybridized sonnet forms applied to the work of Russian poet Vladimir Solovyov (1953-1900), a mystical wordsong maker as well as notable theologian. Each poem is an interview or con-verse-ation where I “reply” to the poet I am translating.

 

2b.
Poems 90. Flint and 96. Taverner show me interviewing Hafeez, the great medieval Persian pub poet, as Solovyov presented him in his Russian re-writing, newly rendered here in English with my “reply.”

Synopsis for Episode #50 "WhenTwo Friends Meet"

When Two Friends Meet – it was my friend Shahid Alam who suggested the title of our book. Our story, told in poetry and calligraphic art, is that of the mutual friendship we’ve enjoyed for over thirteen years. What has steadily deepened our friendship is the collaboration, the working-together, in which thought and feeling have flourished.

Collaboration helped awaken our productivity in art by the shared outlook we have continually renewed by reciprocal visits from 2010 to 2018 and by e-mail correspondence and the exchange of art-presents during this time. In our different but convergent ways we seek a unifying awareness through visual and aural imaginings.

Here I “interview” a poet I’ve been reading and researching for decades. Poet K. D. Balmont, a guiding light and major force in the Russian Symbolist movement, offered an encyclopedic view of his intercultural, nature-mystical development in a climactic book of 255 lyrical treasures: Sonnets of Sun, Honey, and Moon: A Song of Worlds (1917). I’ve translated these into verbal artworks in English by keeping his intricate patterns of subtle, firm rhythm and elegant rhyme.



But – what may surprise you – I also offer 255 “reply” poems of my own in Balmontian form. In the total book – 510 achievements of wordsong craft – you’ll hear my dialogue with a creator whose personality motivated endlessly new experiences of global travel and nature observations made with devoted precision, all embodied in lyrical beauty. It is the self-portrait of a spiritual master in dialogue with a younger poet who regards him as friend and mentor in thought and art.

Episode 48 – Passover Seder Hymn 



         My favorite thing about the Jewish
Passover ceremony, or seder, is the After-Dinner Hymns. And my favorite one to
sing is “Ki Lo Ya-eh.” I’ll translate the first verse:

 

         TO HIM IT IS FITTING, TO HIM IT IS DUE,

         Mighty, supreme in His majesty.

         Legions may rightfully sing to You,

         Sovran alone will You ever be.

         TO HIM IT IS FITTING, TO HIM IT IS DUE.

 

The 8 verses contain alternate near-synonyms for “legions,”
such as “attendants,” “the faithful,” or “disciples,” and the nouns are in the
order of the Hebrew alphabet. This device helps give the hymn a coherent
structure for Hebrew readers.

 

         For musicians like me, what triumphs
most will always be the music! It is a treat to share it with you.

Episode 47 – Wordsongs for Music

Celebrating my 80th birthday (April 21, 1923) with this book, I couldn’t wait to share wordsongs with you, and I put the first one right on the back cover. It’s called “March 1, 2022.”

I’ll give you a few more samples of my 100 singable poems. They’re in all sorts of rhythms and rhyme schemes and stanza patterns.

(1) 49 Newspaper p. 15
(2) 23 Kintsugi p. 18
(3) 29 Hafeez p. 19
(4) 89 Linoleum p. 21
(5) 11 Come p. 23
(6) 53 Heaven p. 85
(7) 69 Beloving p. 105