Report #3 / 02 FEB 2009

The last of the episodes recorded before the program began to air, this report takes us on a walk up through the pasture east of the Grizfork Studio, rising to the treeline marking the path of the south fork of Deep Creek. The field is divided into four sections by old cattle fences, and on this walk, I found names for each based on their defining feature. The section pictured above is called Grandfather Field for the giant boulders that are strewn throughout it. The one closest to the creek is Bone Field. The one below Grandfather is Drumming Deer Field, and the first one is called Spirit Owl Field. This week's poem, "Elegy," explains why:

Elegy

The owls have held nightly
a dialogue across the valley

one near the house where I stand
in crackling leaves and moonlight

the other down closer
to the tongue of the river

which licks boulders into rocks
rocks into pebbles

pebbles into sand
sand into the music of owl and leaf

until

while hiking up to Deep Creek
I find the body of a great-horned

eyeless from ravens, but
untouched by any others

that night, as I expected,
the conversation had ended

but for the next few nights after
I listened to a lone owl talking

to no one until I fell asleep
finally – dreaming of the river

–Marc Beaudin
Grizfork Studio, November 08

The music for this week's episode is "Hummin'" from Cannonball Adderley's 1969 Capitol Jazz release Country Preacher, honoring Rev. Jesse Jackson and featuring Cannonball on alto and soprano saxes, Nat Adderley (who wrote "Hummin'") on cornet, Joe Zawinul on keyboards, Walter Booker on bass, and Roy McCurdy on drums.


Listen to the episode here:
reportfromthemountains03.mp3