notes from the kelp

July 21, 2009

Kelp yourself

[IMAGE] kelp

[IMAGE] low tide

…click to listen:

Island music.

Unless one has followed this bloglet for a while, one might not understand why there is algae in the title. Thus, a reminder. It’s everywhere around me. Eat your sea vegetables!

Huge swaths of the stuff drape the shorelines, and at low tide it looks like the chaotic ladies’ dressing room at Filene’s Basement or Ross Dress for Less, the oddly greenish fabric strewn everywhere, left behind in a mad tidal retreat to the next big sale. This particular dressing cove looks straight out to Victoria, which I could see far more clearly than my little pocket Nikon could. My phone could see it clearly, too: on this side of the island the only cell signal you can hope to momentarily grab comes from Canada, as witnessed by the “roaming” indicator on my readout. Only in or extremely near the bustling metropolis of Friday Harbor (all four blocks of it!) can one hope to use their cell phone. But that’s okay, because I really didn’t feel the urge to call anyone. I was in deep conversation with the plants.

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4 Comments »

Glenn Buttkus said,

July 21, 2009 @ 7:02 am

Wow, those pics, especially the first one, are so very vivid that it kicked off my olfactory responses, and my space has the distinct oder of a kelp bed; not a bad smell actually. Perhaps one might market such a scent; KelpusBrutus, or some such fetching title. When my girls were younger, much younger, we used to beach comb and they wanted me to pick up the kelp “whips”, so that they could lash at each other in mock fights, running and screetching up and down the sand. It was much easier to entertain them then.

Your musical clip, the steaming hunk of “Unkown Jazz” @ 2:42, really buzzed me out, took me to places of warm breezes. I got to tapping my foot, and spinning my chair–but as the piece progressed, it went on longer than I had anticipated, and I became dizzy, and was nearly ejected unceremoniously. Your music should come with a warning label.

Glenn
Glenn Buttkus said,

July 21, 2009 @ 7:06 am

To the folks who habitually stop by my site, the Shapiro poems are a mainstay, a regular stop over, where they can tune into the island life, and learn a bit about the life of a composer. I am so pleased to have you as a collaborator on my sight. There are several other poets out there that like to feel that their sites are collaborative, endeavoring to share the poetry of friends with the masses. Today, your contribution goes something like:

Kelp Yourself

Algae.
It’s everywhere around me.
Eat your sea vegetables!

Huge swaths of the stuff drape
the shorelines,
and at low tide it looks like
the chaotic ladies’ dressing room
at Filene’s Basement or Ross Dress for Less,
the oddly greenish fabric strewn everywhere,
left behind in a mad tidal retreat
to the next big sale.

This particular dressing cove looks
straight out to Victoria,
which I could see far more clearly
than my little pocket Nikon could.
My phone could see it clearly, too:
on this side of the island
the only cell signal you can hope
to momentarily grab comes from Canada,
as witnessed by the “roaming” indicator
on my readout. Only in
or extremely near the bustling metropolis
of Friday Harbor (all four blocks of it!)
can one hope to use their cell phone.
But that’s okay, because I really didn’t
feel the urge to call anyone.
I was in deep conversation with the plants.

Alex Shapiro July 2009
Lane Savant said,

July 21, 2009 @ 9:02 am

A little judicious snipping and you can make a form of oboe or hecklephone out of kelp.
marianasoffer said,

July 24, 2009 @ 1:46 am

I liked the idea about the post, I also liked how you talk about talk about music.
The highlight for me would be that most of the time is better to talk to an algae than to another human being.
And that those conversations could be very interesting and thoughthfull, and you might want them to last much more than a talk with a human.