Remembering Joe Catalano (1952-1998)


Joe Catalano at Rose Mountain, 1996:
 

For Joe Catalano, in transformation from this life, May 27, 1998:

(This consists of a simple mix of the last segment of my Spirit Dreams: Stories of the Singing Masks, with Ione narrating; the Opening section of riverdream through us; some extractions from the above recording of Joe at Rose Mountain; and Ione reciting the Heart Sutra in section 5 of Spirit Dreams. The texts for this material follows):

In this silence.

The great stillness.

("Yeah, transformation is wonderful...")

Images emerge from the deep source:

("I'm bringing home... I'm bringing home actually... a pine cone kalimba... 'cause I just found my second true kalimba...")

pine tree...
birds.

All the earth, the air:
rootedness and
flight.

I sing myself to sleep
night after night
my voice becomes choral,
polyphonous:

hope, passion,
blood
chatter
insensate
drumming
stream to the sea
history, people,
the great
the poor
dying
the crackle of paper
names
marching to money
soldiers
flight of geese
a gesture of human warmth

birth
baby's cry
still the moon's mystery

a tree
shaking its needles
receiving birds

past and present
dancing the repetitions
rhythms
of life
death

Oh, yes, I want immortality
the tree in me says

balm of completeness
a sparrow alights on the tip of a branch
together they sway
branch and bird
at the exact moment
a wave of light
moves from behind
the shadow
of a
cloud.

In this silence

the language
of dream

of...

(forever...)

for now...

("yeah, yeah... yeah... I'll go with that... transformation is wonderful...")

(Gate, gate,
Paragate
Parasamgate
Bhodi suaha)


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