Take Five: Catching up and settling in
After a couple of busy weeks, I went back to explore some things I had missed, and offer one new discovery from abroad
“Take Five” is posted each Friday, and offers five things I spent some time with over the course of the previous week. No criticism, no in-depth analysis, just a few things I think you might be interested in checking out. When the spirit moves me, I’ll post other things at other times.
After a couple of incredibly busy weeks — running the Iowa City Book Festival and then immediately heading to Edinburgh, Scotland, to take part in the Cities of Literature annual meeting — I’m catching up a bit on things I missed, as well as sharing something discovered abroad.
1. Ada Limón’s “In Praise of Mystery”
I am awed by poets who can write to a prompt under deadline and turn out something beautiful, something meaningful that will stand the test of time. U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón has done this with "In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa," penned at the request of NASA to be sent along with the Europa Clipper, a massive spaceship designed to determine if Jupiter's second moon could sustain life. The brief poem's 150 words juxtapose the wonders to be found among the stars with those found and yet to be here on Earth.
Arching under the night sky inky
with black expansiveness, we point
to the planets we know, we
pin quick wishes on stars. From earth,
we read the sky as if it is an unerring book
of the universe, expert and evident.
“I wanted to make sure it was a poem of praise and wonder,” she told the New York Times. “Yes, we’re going to this incredible place; and yes, we might find all of the ingredients for life and this could be an incredible moment in history. But we’re also on the most incredible planet, and it is full of life.”
The ship, with Limón's poem engraved on a small panel within, launched Oct. 14. It will travel 1.8 billion miles over five and a half years before reaching its destination.
2. Kristofferson by Kris Kristofferson
When Kris Kristofferson died in September at age 88, it was the passing of someone I had admired more than experienced. I had heard his music, of course — though usually when performed by others — and seen him in several films. But I hadn’t actively sought out any of it until he passed. Reading about his struggles to make it as a songwriter in Nashville— which followed stints as a Rhodes scholar, Army helicopter pilot and janitor at the studio where Bob Dylan recorded Blonde on Blonde — made me pull out his 1970 debut album. It’s not a top-to-bottom classic, with Kristofferson’s voice charitably described as passable. But it includes four songs of which I guarantee at least one is being performed somewhere in the world right now: “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Help Me Make it Through the Night,” “For the Good Times” and “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down.” It’s an extraordinary testament to Kristofferson’s songwriting talent. Uneven though it may be as a listen, I have enjoyed cueing it up here and there to imagine being there in that moment, watching someone with so much life in the rearview giving it perhaps one last shot to make it.
3. Tom Petty - “Straight Into Darkness”
Most of the time, I pick up expanded reissues of albums because I’m eager to hear the demos, B-sides and discarded tracks that round out the original release. I’m already familiar and looking to expand on that. In the case of Tom Petty’s Long After Dark, I wasn’t terribly familiar with the album. I knew the big single, “You Got Lucky,” and later fell for “Change of Heart,” but didn’t know much of the rest. As much as I love Petty — and own career-spanning box sets and live collections — my familiarity with pre-Full Moon Fever albums begins and ends with Damn the Torpedoes. Mine was a fandom based on the radio and MTV, so no money changed hands until I was in college. So it was a joy to listen and discover songs that immediately connected. None more so than “Straight Into Darkness,” the third single released from the album back in 1983, but which went nowhere. That’s a surprise, because it is such a perfect Petty song with quiet verses of desperation, a big, organ-driven chorus, and a typical Mike Campbell guitar solo. That’s OK. Now I have a fresh Petty tune for those rare times when everything else seems a bit played out.
4. Yasmin Williams - Acadia
In the increasingly crowded space that is the sub-genre of solo acoustic guitar, Yasmin Williams stands out. Her songs are more melodic and tuneful than most, relying less on drones and repetition and more on strummed chords and intricately picked lead lines. Her breakout, 2021’s Urban Driftwood, was ambitious. The follow up, the new Acadia, expands on that with guest instrumentalists and vocalists. The “solo” part of “solo acoustic guitar” doesn’t really apply here, though her talent is such that these extra players and elements are adding texture to mature compositions that very much stand on their own. This isn’t John Fahey-inspired music, as so much in this category tends to be. Think Windham Hill instead, highly accomplished, soothing tunes that dazzle while they comfort. I saw Williams perform solo last year as part of the Mission Creek Festival, and her intimate show was the highlight of the week for me.
5. Hollie McNish - “British National Breakfast”
My trips abroad often don’t leave much time to experience the local arts scene, so I was pleased to be able to attend an event that featured three poets and a songwriter at the close of our meeting in Edinburgh last week. The evening was hosted by Edinburgh's Makar (essentially the poet laureate) Michael Pedersen. Pedersen and fellow poet Hollie McNish performed as part of the program. Each use quotidian details and humor to create poems that feel more crafted for the slam than the page — a feeling perhaps buoyed by their energetic performances on this night — but regardless, it energized a packed university auditorium in a way most poetry readings do not. McNish was a revelation, her quick wit a bit of sugar to help the incisive commentary go down, words and phrases to be contemplated after the laughter fades. Looking her up after returning home, I found dozens of videos with biting poems, perhaps none more so than “British National Breakfast,” a jab at the anti-immigrant stance of many in the UK. It’s as vital now as it was eight years ago when she first wrote it, and just as relevant to these shores as her own.