82. Two takes on ten days' time
Loneliness and inner changes, reinterpreted.
This post is a sixth experiment in presenting two pieces back to back, without my usual interpretation section. (here are some of the other such posts!) I hope you can enjoy puzzling out shared themes, or perhaps ways in which each one builds upon the other.
suggested reading method
To best savour this artwork, please take a moment to eliminate distractions. Consider minimizing all other windows on your computer; putting other devices (phone, tv etc) aside; taking a deep breath, to the full extent of your lung capacity; and focusing solely on the “artwork 1” and “artwork 2” sections.
Once you’ve processed those to your satisfaction, the rest of the post is optional reading, provided only for context about the artists.
artwork 1
Ten Days Leave
He steps down from the dark train, blinking; stares
At trees like miracles. He will play games
With boys or sit up all night touching chairs.
Talking with friends, he can recall their names.Noon burns against his eyelids, but he lies
Hunched in his blankets; he is half awake
But still lacks nerve to open up his eyes;
Supposing it were just his old mistake?But no; it seems just like it seemed. His folks
Pursue their lives like toy trains on a track.
He can foresee each of his father’s jokes
Like words in some old movie that’s come back.He is like days when you’ve gone some place new
To deal with certain strangers, though you never
Escape the sense in everything you do,
”We’ve done this all once. Have I been here, ever?”But no; he thinks it must recall some old film, lit
By lives you want to touch; as if he’d slept
And must have dreamed this setting, peopled it,
And wakened out of it. But someone’s keptHis dream asleep here like a small homestead
Preserved long past its time in memory
Of some great man who lived here and is dead.
They have restored his landscape faithfully:The hills, the little houses, the costumes:
How real it seems! But he comes, wide awake,
A tourist whispering through the priceless room
Who must not touch things or his hand might breakTheir sleep and black them out. He wonders when
He’ll grow into his sleep so sound again.
artwork 2
“ten” by Fred again.., Jozzy & Jim Legxacy, from Fred again..’s 2024 album ten days.
context
William De Witt Snodgrass Snodgrass (1926 - 2009) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet. Bown in Pennsylvania, he was drafted to the Navy, then returned to the US to become a professor of poetry. He published 19 collections of poetry as well as several prose pieces, dramas and anthologies.
Fred again.. (b. 1993) is the stage name of Frederick John Philip Gibson, a British producer, singer-songwriter and DJ. He began making and producing music as early as age 16, and won the Brit Award at age 26 to become the youngest ever Producer of the Year. Fred again.. collaborated with American singer-songwriter Jozzy (b. 1991) and British rapper Jim Legxacy (b. 1999) on the smash-hit track “ten,” citing “very small quiet intimate moments” as inspiration.
What similarities and differences did you notice? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!