about
a collaboration with Hollace M. Metzger
www.hollacemetzger.com
the Jean Montag / H.M. Metzger collaboration of the poem “Twitch” was featured on BBC radio in April 2010.
"This is the first collaboration where I tried to get into the mind of that which was being observed after recitation - here, an autistic man. For the music piece - this delayed, Sigur Ros-listening phase of my life - Jean and I decided to record minutes of an invented language, sounds and pauses that came to my mind (spoken and sung (6:15)) without thinking about it, trying to make the subconscious more conscious. I was simply talking to nobody, recording raw emotion and “words” that fell off the tongue in an attempt to communicate what I was feeling, how maybe one would communicate when there is no way to use words. You can hear this at the climax of Jean’s music (after 3:42, when you hear a sound like the train turning on its rails), where words from the poem remain but there are other voices (4:05) adding to the confusion of what one could possibly be thinking and/or interpreting.
The song conveys concurrent senses of fear & security, joy & sadness, solitude & intimacy. Just like words can have so many meanings - songs, emotions and situations, even people - are not always one-sided, have a lighter side and a heavy side, happiness and sadness, a “calm” and a “Twitch”.
Many thanks to Jean Montag for bringing this experience back to life outside of the privacy of my own experience, for sharing and walking through it again with me and making it possible to bring to the public, to You."
Hollace M. Metzger
lyrics
Beautiful, blue eyes
gazing into space
never explored or imagined
with my over-active imagination.
Calm, calm, then "twitch"
as if you're nervous
to say hello.
Beautiful soul,
your irises open
and close
with such wild tantrums
of love, of curiosity
for what you see.
When we exit a tunnel
you see Parisian sun
shining like you've never
seen it before,
as if it's a sighting
only you've witnessed
that must be press-
printed this evening!
Say something
other than mumbling
inaudible words
I've never heard.
I want to know your
calm, calm, then "twitch"
when people board-
ed the train.
Calm, calm, then "twitch",
again and again,
when a less-sensitive
figure parallels itself to
your hyper-reality.
I used to be afraid
of people like you,
the unexpected.
And now, you are enriching
this life of mine,
this lovely story.
Fidgeting with your cell phone,
talking to no one,
punching numbers
in no sequence,
calling your home
that doesn't exist,
so nervous... Then,
calm, calm and "twitch".
I adore this,
watching you unlike
everyone else out
the corner of my eye.
I stare, you don't care.
The colors you see
are more beautiful than me.
Numbers are music ..s.
Your unfinished words
are unspoken poetry.
You just brought be-bop back
with your chatter and that
mystifying high-hat tap
that mesmerized
this starry-eyed jazz-
seeker years ago.
I note your ungroomed,
randomly-bloomed
gray hairs and wonder
what stress put them there.
Nothing seems to bother you
or disturb your peace,
your calm, calming "twitch"
that conducts this
railway motorcade
of nameless faces
going places their body
leads them to
while their fear
of what you will do
keeps them
looking your direction.
Do you get lonely
when your friends
that possess your head
leave you sleeping?
Have you ever been in love?
Maybe you're still playing
with a shiny, red fire truck
in a sand box,
kicking stones up,
with your "twitch",
at the most innocent
blond girl in pigtails,
with the palest face.
And you laugh,
become nervous
like this
calm, calm and "twitch".
Will you speak to me
or poke my nose
if I pretend
I have experienced
less in my life?
Will you please explain
the colors you see
if I never tell you
that eventually,
they all seem
to add up to black
whenever I mix them?
Tell me your story
of five years of life
extended in forty-three
and I promise to be
calm, so calm
and welcome your "twitch"
without defense.
If I hold your hand,
will you "twitch" again?
Or, is this why you do it?
(Hollace M. Metzger)
credits
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