Listening Long and Late

Notes

73 Notes “Song,” “Sorrow Song,” “Lament for the Dead Princes,” “Making the Circle,” “Lament,” “Prankster Song,” “Rich Man,” “He Alone,” and “Where Is That Road”: My versions of Nahuatl poems are based on the Spanish translations of Angel María Garibay, Poesía Náhuatl, vols. 2 and 3, Cantares mexicanos (Mexico: Universidad Autónoma de México, 1965, 1968) and the “undoctored English renderings” of Cantares Mexicanos and A Náhuatl-English Dictionary and Concordance to the Cantares Mexicanos by John Bierhorst, both published by Stanford University Press in 1985. Nezahualcoyotl was king of Texcoco-Alcolhuacan, 1431–1472. Cacamatl reigned in Texcoco-Alcolhuacan, 1516–1520. The identity of Ayocuan is uncertain. Temilotzin was a commander in the last battles against Cortés. “A Story Can Change Your Life” is for Stella Chero. “Of Zarathustra” refers to Michael H. Hart’s The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History (New York: Hart, 1978). “Kiski Valley: Looking for Old Miners”: The Kiskiminetas River, tributary to the Allegheny, runs through what was once the major soft coalfields of southwestern Pennsylvania. “Even Friendship”: Yaakov Orland (1914–2002) was an Israeli poet, songwriter, and translator and was awarded the Israel Prize in 1994 for his lyrics. The man in the poem is the poet Natan Alterman (1910–1970). “The Girl on the Bullard Overpass” is for C. G. Hanzlicek. “The Beginning of Country Music”: For those who are curious , Lark-o-the-Morn refers to an Irish jig, “The Lark in the Morning”; “Cluck Old Hen” is an Appalachian fiddle tune; “Hot 74 Canary” is a show piece for jazz violin; “Weather Bird” is a legendary trumpet solo recorded by Louis Armstrong with Earl Hines; Yard Bird is the nickname of Charlie Parker, alto sax jazz virtuoso; the Midnight Cockalorum is imaginary but ought to be a real bird; and the Naked Jay Bird is from the folk idiom “naked as a jay bird.” “Orpheus Laments,” “The Formula,” and “Concerning the Disappearance of the Nightingale”: These are all my translations of Natan Zach’s poems. Born in 1930, he is Israel’s foremost living poet and the leader of the early modernist movement in Hebrew poetry. “One for the 5-String”: In memory of Bascom Lamar Lunsford (1882–1973). In the late 1940s, at his festival in Asheville, North Carolina, I was introduced to the music of a 5-string banjo and that “high lonesome sound” of the Appalachian voice. I remain deeply grateful. “Banjo Dream”: Earl Scruggs, in the 1940s, perfected a finger -picking style of playing the 5-string banjo. “Scruggs style” is at the core of the Bluegrass sound. “The Shirt” is for Joe Millar. “Homage to Tu Fu”: Tu Fu, or Du Fu (712-770), frequently translated into English, is one of the most prominent and best known poets of the Tang dynasty. “they lost the grandfather”: The word “barba” means beard in Italian, but in this poem the name “Barba” is used as a term of respect for old age or kinship—a graybeard. 75 “in 1937”: The line “Hey, where do you work-a John?” refers to “Where Do You Work-a, John,” a novelty dialect song by Harry Warren, Mortimer Weinberg, and Charley Marks. My grandmother had what must have been the 1926 recording of it by Tom Stacks; I’ve slightly altered the second line of the song. The railroad is the Delaware Lackawanna in northeastern Pennsylvania. “To Po Chü-i”: Po Chü-i (772–846) was a poet of the later Tang dynasty. “Aubade in Autumn” is for Connie Lake. ...