Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer
utters itself. So, a woman will lift
her head from the sieve of her hands and stare
at the minims sung by a tree, a sudden gift.

Some nights, although we are faithless, the truth
enters our hearts, that small familiar pain;
then a man will stand stock-still, hearing his youth
in the distant Latin chanting of a train.

Pray for us now. Grade 1 piano scales
console the lodger looking out across
a Midlands town. Then dusk, and someone calls
a child’s name as though they named their loss.

Darkness outside. Inside, the radio’s prayer –
Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre.

— Carol Ann Duffy

mixtape #2 from nadinekhouri on 8tracks Radio.

Track I wrote for Lhasa is shaping up nicely so far, I think – always surprised when the country music comes creeping in! 

Previewing this & some other unsung stuff on the 22nd February in London. 

“My greatest challenge is to get to the essence of the situation and not to destroy it.  Try to record it, to take it, film it in such a way that when I project it, the mood, the atmosphere of that situation is still there.  And that is not easy, I’ve discovered.  You have to choose the right moment and do it, catch it. How, I cannot tell you.  It’s something to feel because it’s invisible, but could also be visible.”  

— Jonas Mekas

Admittedly, it came into my hands a bit late, but the incredibly talented Jess Bryant has released one of the most beautiful & generous albums I’ve heard in a very long time!  A bold, authentic, and surprising work from start to finish. The album is available from Red Deer Club here.