direct link: Starfire (33 min)

Happy Solstice! 

It last happened 372 years ago - a rare confluence: a lunar eclipse and winter solstice. In the night (at 3:18am EST), a total lunar eclipse, the full moon passing through the darkest shadow of the earth (and at 6:40am EST), winter solstice, when the northern hemisphere's axial tilt is furthest from the sun, the longest night and darkest day of the year.

The astronomy of the day is worth pondering on.

For the last two years, I have released a poetry album at solstice.

This is so I can offer a little Solstice gift to you (free to download, or listen, as you wish).

To commemorate light in the beautiful loving darkness.
Wishing you joy, love, health, success, wealth.

warm regards,
Brenda

Starfire 

This album began with the first track, 'Disappearing,' which I wrote in a hammock in the hot, sultry summer. I recorded it a few times, just for fun. Then layered the readings, added music and became intrigued.

Thus began an odyssey of readings, recordings. All tracks, except one, are with music of Jamendo musicians, to whom I am so grateful.

If you wish, you can download any tracks or the whole album.

A collection of love poetry.
 ___________________

The tracks:

Disappearing: Brenda Clews, poetry, voice and mix; Matt Samolis, music, a section from: "Trio for Flute, Cymbals, & Glass": http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/49419 (with permission)

What Would I Write If I Could Write: for J.P. Brenda Clews, poetry, voice, mix; music, Roger Stephane, 'Lointain,' from his album, "Picasso": http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/62258 (with permission)

Drumbeat: Brenda Clews, poetry, voice, mix; music, Chriss Onac, track "TRANSE" from his album, TRIBAL: http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/23954 (with permission)

Glint: Soundtrack for my videopoem, Glint, which is also a videopoem at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D3vTpxfFuU Backgound music is "Madrox, in my head," by Arena of Electronic Music, a Creative Commons license: http://www.jamendo.com/track/477297 (with permission from his band administrator)

Hieroglyphic of Purple Lotuses: Brenda Clews, poetry, voice, mix; music, Ka eN, "Oriental Dreams": http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/42617 (with permission)

Starfire in the Night: Brenda Clews, poetry, voice, mix; music, Frank Harper's 'Moon's Eve,' from "Fingerstyle - Set 1": http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/62508 (with permission)

What Is Underground Is What Holds Us: Brenda Clews, poetry, voice, mix; music, LaiYouttitham's song, "Alone," from his site: http://www.laizmusic.com/mp3-download.php (with permission)

Salt of the Sea: Brenda Clews, poetry, voice, mix; music, Livio Amato's, 'Dream Opening,' from his album, "Sensitivity": http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/62537 (with permission)

My Body Is A Word: Brenda Clews, poetry, voice, mix; music, Lena Selyanina's piano solo, 'Summer Morning,' from "Snowstorm Romance": http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/73627 (with permission)

Veils To Clothe Venus: Brenda Clews, poetry, reading, mix; music, Buz Hendricks, music: http://www.somewhereoffjazzstreet.com/ (with permission - a section of a track he created for the Venus Suite of Poems - a track at Jamendo).

Ink Ocean: Brenda Clews, poetry, reading, mix; music (mixed by me), Alphacore, 'side_project,' from "Side Project": http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/33504, and Extra's, 'The Quickest Vessel to a Distant Future,' from "Water Every Full Moon": http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/45140 (with permissions)

_

With special thanks to Robert A. for his invaluable advice on recording.

Starfire album cover is a painting of mine.

I composed the html in a blog post, and left the icon links to each page of my Art & Writings website below:

                                          

watch the YouTube video embedded here... you can also download

from the Internet Archives, click this link: Ravishing Light, a Solar Videopoem

After watching many hours of NASA's amazing SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) footage of the sun at the Internet Archives, I downloaded some short videos and from them distilled the clips you see in this video. I am delighted to find this footage and to create a solar videopoem.

A vision of such power that what went before falls away in a rapturous death. A rapturous death of the ego. An unerasable enlightenment. That Rubicon. I was inspired to write this piece after seeing the movie, 'Sunshine,' which also uses footage from NASA's SOHO Observatory:

on that day explosion of ravishing light infiltrated all crevices of the abode no shadow only a few seconds but transformed everyone's consciousnesses neuronal synapses exploding in rapturous light retinal cells lighting up firing laser stunning flashing images into the brain marked by the event the way a flood line is gauged by how far inland the water traveled all those who witnessed the event scattering of the light bore the mark like a rare sedimentary flare layer in the archeology of the mind or a moment when everything saturated overflow of light expanded beyond outer limits of comprehension remained engraved luminosity in the cells at any moment to spill forth when memory activated the sequence of that day when the sun cosmic storm blazed without heat only light brilliant

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prose poem written in July 2007 (also available at the Internet Archives as a separate recording); videopoem created April 2010.

These are the videos I finally chose and downloaded. I used clips from some of them for my short videopoem:

wave- archive.org/details/CIL-10079

SOHO_TRACE_Intro_YouTube- archive.org/details/GMM-10421

recon- archive.org/details/SPD-SOHO-STRIPreconSTRIP

quiet20010310ntscarchive- archive.org/details/SVS-2766?start=4.5

EITflameszm- archive.org/details/SPD-SOHO-STRIPEITflameszmSTRIP

304blow- archive.org/details/SPD-SOHO-STRIP304blowSTRIP

archive.org/details/SVS-3286

EITbulb- archive.org/details/SPD-SOHO-STRIPEITbulbSTRIP

flarezoom640x480- archive.org/details/SVS-2496

helio_fleet_v1.1- archive.org/details/SVS-3570