Seeker Magazine

A NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SONG

(Virtual Slide Show)

by T. R. Phillips

     oceans
surround the island
     a comet, tail dangle
orbits a receding body of remembering
     so leaving

the native
     his deep darker imperceptibly
listens - dart's curare to find
     a monkey's heart - tail dangle
slow dying

     dyspeptic crater
white on top
     cranes preening
oceans vast
     surround the tiny island

neutron
     left home prematurely
family destroyed
     thus precipitating a crisis in the neighborhood
mass hot brief tears

     oceans vast implacable
surround the tiny island of Hate
     tradewinds blowing
ballast lolling
     hands laughing

I had a dream at the Wolf moon of 1985 after seeing a BBC nature film wherein natives were hunting monkeys with curare darts. One scene showed a monkey hanging by its tail for an interminable time before it dropped. The narrator said the stricken monkey hangs for a while because it takes longest for the curare to reach into the monkey's tail. Curare affects the muscles only, leaving the nervous system aware during the process. The emotional detachment of the narrator, exacerbated by the British accent, seemed to me the most horrid aspect of the scene. In my dream, this scene mixed with other scenes, with states of social unrest or upheaval represented by bodies of water, large or small, in various states of agitation. I wrote "A National Geographic Song" back then. I also wrote a minimalist musical backdrop for it, two clarinets and digital delay, with the text as a timed reading, and it has had several performances which have been well received.

(Copyright 2001 by T. R. Phillips - No reproduction without express permission from the author)
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Letter to the Author: T. R. Phillips at Tphips@aol.com