Drum me a Sevenling

lillian

Swing it, oh jazz man!
Brush me lazy eights. Swish-arc-swirl, swish-arc-swirl.
Tap-atink rim shots, bass-drum-thuds.

Stick it LOUD, oh ROCK man!
KaBAM a-BANG-BAM. CRASH cymbal SPLASH.
PUMP WHOLE FOOT PEDAL. BASS DRUM BOOMS.

Soothe me melancholy, then BAM ME A BEAT.

psychedelic-drums-eduardo-tavares

To be read aloud. Try it!
Written for dVerse, a poet’s virtual pub, where Grace is tending bar and asks us to write a sevenling related to music. A sevenling is two tercets and a final single line – each tercet includes an element of three — here the sounds of a drummer. Celebrating the 5th anniversary of dVerse with a wonderful interview with Claudia, one of the founders and, I might add, painter extraordinaire!  Painting credit: Psychedelic Drummer by Eduardo Tavares. 

35 thoughts on “Drum me a Sevenling”

  1. claudia July 19, 2016 / 3:19 pm

    ha- very cool – i can feel the beat!!!
    a few years ago i started to play the drums – it is so cool – and it just fascinates me to let the rhythm find its way

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    • lillian July 19, 2016 / 3:20 pm

      Drumming is therapeutic I think! Was fun to try and “word” the sounds! 😊

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  2. brian miller July 19, 2016 / 3:20 pm

    i like the energy and movement in swish-arc-swirl…nice repetition in that line.
    Love your use of sound in the rim shot as well…ah i could def get into some jazz.
    perhaps while we are at the beach next week i will have to find me a jazz club for a bit.

    fun piece. you def captured the music and brought it to life.

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  3. kanzensakura July 19, 2016 / 3:21 pm

    What fun this is. I remember another you did with sounds and it was so very rich. I am smiling as I read this aloud. Great!

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    • lillian July 19, 2016 / 3:26 pm

      Yes – influenced again by Sandburg’s Oh Jazzman! One of my favorite poems of all time and meant to be read aloud. It’s so fun to “notate” percussion in words!

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      • kanzensakura July 19, 2016 / 10:32 pm

        You certainly make it seem so! I have the sense of rhythm of a dinner plate so….

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  4. Björn Rudberg (brudberg) July 19, 2016 / 3:26 pm

    Oh I do love the contrast between the rock and jazz… maybe fusing into something like Weather Report… I actually saw Wayne Shorter play a few years ago… Love the sound effects.

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    • lillian July 19, 2016 / 3:29 pm

      The sticks or the brushes make all the difference on the set. My sun was a drummer – we actually had his huge drum set in our bedroom – he was playing on a full set by the end of first grade. To us they were an investment and a musical instrument – we were afraid if we put them in the family room, his young friends would just wail and beat on them! Made for a strange looking bedroom 😳😉

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  7. Glenn Buttkus July 19, 2016 / 3:46 pm

    Onomodopeia indeed, nice use of auditory clues to put those drums in our head; rock & jazz do plenty of cross overs; like the blues does with both of them; enjoy the head banging.

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    • lillian July 19, 2016 / 3:48 pm

      I really love those brushes —

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    • lillian July 19, 2016 / 4:08 pm

      Just through the lessons my kids took. My son started on a drum pad at 5 — there are no musical notes per se — just “beats” — so I cut up circles into halves, quarters, etc. When he hit the lesson where he had to play “4 against 6” I was lost and quit sitting in. Drummers are incredibly ambidextrous and good drummers have a sensitivity to the music understanding they must accompany, lead and blend all at the same time!

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  11. kim881 July 19, 2016 / 4:39 pm

    I had such fun reading this aloud, I’m going to read it again in a moment! It reminds me of the acapella version of California Dreamin’ our rock and soul choir is currently rehearsing. I’m in the alto 2 section and we have a fair number of oohs, aahs, do-do-doohs and tum-tum-tums as we are providing the percussion.

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    • lillian July 19, 2016 / 6:27 pm

      Exactly! Tried to word the sounds here — very fun one to write! So glad you enjoyed. 🙂

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  13. Grace July 19, 2016 / 5:35 pm

    Shouting it out loud, yeah you got the beat Lillian. 🙂

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    • lillian July 19, 2016 / 6:26 pm

      So glad you said it out loud…..tis music in the words! 🙂

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  14. piano warm July 19, 2016 / 5:53 pm

    Way cool approach. I really dig this. The lazy eights and “Tap-atink rim shots” are my faves.

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    • lillian July 19, 2016 / 6:25 pm

      hmmmm Piano Warm — are you a musician? So glad you enjoyed! 🙂

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  15. Bodhirose July 19, 2016 / 9:13 pm

    Fun, Lillian! I loved the “Tap-atink rim shots.” So does your son still play the drums?

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  16. Truedessa July 19, 2016 / 10:25 pm

    Oh, this was fun to read, you had me smiling to the beat..drum on..

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  17. Sumana Roy July 20, 2016 / 1:54 am

    love the beautiful contrast between the jazz man and rock man…words filled with rhythm and music, each single word! wow!….

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    • lillian July 20, 2016 / 6:54 am

      Fun to try and describe sounds with letters of the alphabet! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed.

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  19. lynn__ July 20, 2016 / 3:40 pm

    Smooth moves in this seriously musical sevenling, Lillian! I can hear (and feel) the beat of the drums 🙂

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  20. Mish July 20, 2016 / 3:45 pm

    This is music and you can sway, dance and drum to it! Love it, Lillian.

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