[music starts: “Brittle Rille” by Kevin MacLeod]
Hello, and welcome to Daddybuck’s Notebook. I’m Lindsay, and my grandfather, who we called Daddybuck, was a creative genius. In this podcast, my goal is to find the beautiful things he made and share them with the world, and with you. I’m also going to be sharing my own works with you, paying it forward from the inspiration he gave me. So let’s get started!
[music fades.]
Let’s start with some Poetic Inspiration…
Today’s poem is called God, #32.
[music starts: “Lindsay’s Theme” by Mark Holt]
When Jesus was a spiral flame,
And I a dot in space
I watched His vast galactic cloud
That I might know His grace.
Like maids at dawn who comb their hair,
He combed the stars and made them bright
As woodsmen lay their axe to wood,
He split the day from night.
His fingers combed the starpaths smooth,
The stars lined up, a glowing choir
A ringlet here, a ringlet there,
A curl, a braid, a sweep of fire.
“Human kind,” He said, “Look well,
I sculpt the star-glow, bright, divine,
For I am glorified by stars
Which must be seen by eyes not Mine.”
“For stars were made for you to see,
And you to see above
And know the Hands that shaped them all
And know My mercy and My love.”
[music fades.}
This one is extremely special to me.
So, my sister and I grew up just a couple hours’ drive away from my grandparents. We got to see them every holiday, and sometimes on weekend trips that weren’t holidays. The routine I followed as a kid was, after spending the night there I’d always wake up before anyone else in the house, and I’d sneak out to the screened-in back porch, pick up a Calvin and Hobbes book of comics or a National Geographic magazine with pretty pictures, and immerse myself until the next part of my morning…
Which was when Daddybuck woke up. I’d hear him head to the kitchen for a bowl of cereal. Thinking back, I realize now that this was his routine every day – he’d wake up long before Nana, have some cereal, read the bible, pray, and write notes to Jesus. When I was around, I’d pester him with tons of questions. We’d talk about Jesus, his best friend. But mostly I remember grabbing National Geographic magazines and him pointing at the pictures, telling me about electrons and supernovas, things too big and too small to belong to humans alone.
Daddybuck saw them as gifts, and kind of as reminders – they were here for us to enjoy, but in enjoying them, we had to give up any sense that we were responsible for them, that we were that big or that important. Daddybuck had an understanding of the beauty of being outnumbered, outclassed, outsmarted, of being small, in reference to a force of pure love.
There are a lot of things I wouldn’t agree with him about if we talked today – especially about God and what God wants from people. But now, when I think about things like electrons and supernovas, things too big to own or even to understand as just a single person in just one lifetime, there’s a sense of peace, of surrendering control, that connects me to something greater and gives me clarity. I’m not all that important. And that’s honestly a beautiful thing.
For my version, I decided I love the words too much to change them. Instead, I took out my flute, which I haven’t touched in years, and put a couple of the verses to music.
I don’t have my grandfather’s faith. I have been in and out of faith so often I’ve got spiritual whiplash. So, for this piece, I didn’t want to change it, but I didn’t want to just repeat it as is and stop there. I chose to use my voice alongside it. I chose to harmonize. I chose to take something wonderful and make something new.
I hope the parts sounded all right together.
Thanks for listening.
[music plays: “Stars” by Lindsay Holt. Three of the verses from “God #32” are sung alongside accompanying flute and a Celtic-sounding rhythm made by a bodhran drum.]
[song fades. music starts: “Brittle Rille” by Kevin MacLeod]
Thanks for listening. The music in today’s episode is called “Brittle Rille” by Kevin MacLeod at incompetech.com.
The Poetic Inspiration music is called “Lindsay’s Theme” by cellist Mark Holt. You can find him at cellokeys.wordpress.com, or on Facebook by searching “cellokeysva”.
The poem “God #32” was written by John S Townsend, copyright date 2001, all rights reserved. The song “Stars” was written by Lindsay Holt, and as this is my first time writing music, I’m kind of ok with how it turned out! The bodhran, or Celtic drum sound, is from Pogmothoin through freesound.org. You can find their website in the show notes.
I’ll close with my favorite poem, Creativity:
If you could create
New word or new shape
Put your mind in a box
And watch it escape
Stay creative.
[music fades.]
[Bloopers: Lindsay gets herself amped up to record the sung verses of “Stars” and warms up her voice by singing random notes that turn into an improvised song:]
I could sing arpeggios
but they’re boring!
So instead I’ll sing random notes
not in any key
not that you can tell
because I’m making it up as I go…
I was raised by two musicians
I spent all my life –
half of it trying to be like them
half of it trying to rebel
Sometimes I did both at once
Like I’m doing right now!
[end.]
Lindsay, Written Down 