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Stooping to drink (David Malouf)

from Stalin's Piano by Sonya Lifschitz & Robert Davidson

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about

David Malouf reads his poem "Stooping to drink" (published in 1974) and his spoken intonation is treated as melody by the piano. Tall Poppies, used by permission.

lyrics

Smelling the sweet grass
of distant hills, too steep
to climb, to far to see
in this handful of water
scooped from the river dam.

Touching the sky where like
a single wing my hand
dips through clouds. Tasting
the shadow of basket-willows,
the colour of ferns.

A perch, spoon-coloured, climbs
where the moon sank, trailing
bubbles of white,
and school kids on picnics
swing from a rope - head

over sunlit heels like angels
they plunge into the sun
at midday, into silence
of pinewoods hanging over
a sunken hill-farm.

Taking all this in
at the lips, holding it
in the cup of my hand.
And further down the hiss
of volcanoes, rockfall

and hot metals cooling
in blueblack depths a hundred
centuries back.
Taking all this in
as the water takes it: sky

sunlight, sweet grass-flavours
and the long-held breath
of children - a landscape
mirrored, held a moment,
and let go again

credits

from Stalin's Piano, released May 17, 2019
Robert Davidson, composer, engineer, editor
Sonya Lifschitz, pianist

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Sonya Lifschitz & Robert Davidson Brisbane, Australia

Sonya Lifschitz' bold adventurousness & unparalleled musicianship, described as “a life force of extraordinary density and capacity” see her active as soloist, collaborator, artistic director, educator, radio personality and arts advocate.

Robert Davidson has been making music from language since childhood. With his ensemble Topology he explores a wide range of cross-genre collaboration.
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