GloPoWriMo2020 Day 15: Banishing Spell

Prompt: Today, I’d like  to challenge you to write a poem inspired by your favorite kind of music. Try to recreate the sounds and timing of a pop ballad, a jazz improvisation, or a Bach fugue. That could mean incorporating refrains, neologisms and flights of whimsy, or repeating/inverting lines or ideas – whatever your chosen musical form would seem to require! Perhaps a good way to start is to listen to your favorite piece of music and “free-write” for the duration  of the piece, and then use what you’ve written as the building blocks for your poem.

A few years ago, I performed in a choral production called Incantations, which involved music of ritual, rites, and altogether really interesting pieces of choral music. One of the pieces we performed was a very dark, experimental contemporary piece called Aglepta, which takes a Swedish trollproverb from the 19th century and brilliantly enacts it out in pitch, rhythm, and non-standard notation.

It's best to watch it here to get an idea of what it's like, but it's an amazing work and I love how Arne Mellnas uses various ranges of the voice to such effect.

The formatting for this was sheer hell so I left it in small font.

Banishing Spell

To leave an enemy without an answer, say these words to him: Aglaria Pidhol garia Ananus Qepta and blow in his direction; then he will not know which way he is headed and cannot answer you.

     - Smaland 19^th Century, Swedish Trollproverbs (collected by Bengt of Kintberg)

A chant for three voices in three staves

|          fffffffffFFFFFffffffff      ffffffffwoooooooffFFFFFFFffffffooooo   ffff

|  They say                                     to leave an e! ne! my!                         beee

|       a    a a AH      a a      AAAH ah a        a a     a a     AAAAA  a a          hiiinnnd 

| BlOWwwwww   in his direction    aa    AAAAAA ahhhaaha       piiiihhHHHOOL!

|     blowwwww   in his direction    ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh____  gaaaa a riii a

|  blowwwwww   in his direction        AAA a   a    AAA a  a     ga! a! A!   A! riAAA

|so I blow blow oh oh oh  ohhhhhhh hhhh               you                  you           away

|               and I send             and I send     and I send      and I send         you  away

|HAAAAaaaa            HAAAAaaaa    haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaway

               

|               iiiiissss    not child’s play                    we    are   no lon    ger  chil!  dren!

|         iiiiiiissssss                               we       are noooo lon   ger    chil!  dren! 

| This            iiiiiissss  noooooooooo   chiiiiiiiiiild’s pl – l – l –l –l aaaaaaaAAAAY

| go  go  go   I  claim my space s s S!   space s S! S!   i carve a space in air hh aairh
|    you you you  no lon       have a hooooooooooold       on me   dk dk chchCHTS S

| i i i i i i                        ger                hoo ho ho hold    i i i i breakkk your wordsss

|A GLAAAAA ri a     I take back my eyes                       I free my hands my words

|                I break my chains                          gaaaaaRIIIIIIaaaaa
|                                           PIIIIIDHOOOL                            I unsew my tongue

|ANANUSSSSSSSS       qepTAAAAaaaa                                   offfff your words

|        ANANUSSSSSSSS! S! S!                        looocked in the chains           
|    ANANUSS                         kept toooooo long           qep qep qep TA tat a aaaaa

| I blow ffffffff                           and you no! lon! ger! can answer              now

| I blow      fffffffffff             and you                                           answer            that

| I blow         fffffffffffff   and you                                                       answer             I

| blow your chains                  back          at   at at at              YOUuuuuuu h   ||        

|       ohhhhHOOOOOhhhhh      ohhhOOOOOhhh    qepta   YOUuuuuuu h   ||

| aglaaariiiia!   AGLAaariiiia!    garia   ANANUS qepta       YOUuuuuuu h   ||