depth's
depth

papa legba
let us look
shallow
grave

i be
buried for some
time
now

cure
burned alive
curse's
body broken

hauling this
body through haunted
passages

strangely
still
standing
up
straight

papers
peeling off
skin

after
skin

layer
after
layer
you knew

you knew
serpent

so strong
under my skin
so

so
it is

sung
tonight

studio

so beautifully

melody
forgotten
when moon
murdered

when moon murdered
legba
old man
lost voice

within viper
you knew

you knew
you knew that

earth
erupted

words
wound
evisceration
each thought
interrogated

again
& again

beginnings
endings

whatever you want
to call them
call them
papa

call them now
in horse's hours

did you dance
or was that
writhing
with wraiths

wear you robe
of flesh

try to pronounce
premonition

speak

sing

scream

it hard
ly
matters
to
matter

hard
ly matters
at all
grab
abacus

beats it
against skull

until balls
fall

bloodied

bellowing

divisions
subtractions

scene so squalid
you recall
precisely

perfectly
draw

dread
closer

draw
dead
closer
kiev 1942
portrayal
of crowds
chasing one
another

& animals
blades
& spades

crashing
crushing
& cutting

noise
not nature

noise
nausea

premeditated
pandemonium

discord
degraded into din)

noise
not
nature

let me swim
in ebony sea

let
ebony sea
swim
through me wind
wounded by breath
trembling

trepidation

foreboding

frightening
figures
have come
to comprehend
completely

name of numbers

flinch

shudder

archaic
images immersed
in intestines

from first
noise

noise
not nature

pool
of piss
running
down
legs

shower shame
shelters
from worst

worse coming
comes

so it it

it is so

come
ô clouds
come

outcome
obvious

i dead

body broken

short
breaths

before it’s time
to give account
broken into breath

reach reluctantly
for remains
for body here

hell horizon
down passage

down
below

recall
outline in cave

fashioned
with feet
against wall

drawing
dread

pity
pity

illustration
of illumination
immolated

devour
morsel
by morsel

images immerse
in intestines

slither
through fissures

time triggered
fall

you cannot answer
here & now
without weeping

dominion

realm

realm
rattling
cage dragged
down corridor
by beast

beyond
writhe
when worlds
waver

writhe
cut throat

live
by river
& weep
into water

open gates

so saliva
reaches level
of blood

gates gone
gathered
at graves

wind
words

here
horizon hell
clear

fecal fog
finished
off
tongues torture

so serpent sang
to skull

from first
to last

shelter shredded
into scattered
scraps of skin

scratch
deep
in earth
with force

you have
little

scratch

use utensils
created from carcasses

robe
of birds

specters surround
suspecting

choice charnel

mourn movement

be boat
or bird

no

no
appetite for answers

fibres
& flesh
history hole

hell
horizon
depth

depth
cannot conceive

thrash about
thickets

gravity
goes

twitch

tremble

twitch

tremble

meat
men

witness light
on one day
that was enough
punishment

waking
no point
in going
to sleep

no point
without going
down further
down below

in your mouth
they will find
no song
but songs

pulsing
through veins

vein to vein

sweat

saliva

higher ground

shallow
grave

body
lost

crawling
in corridors

endless corridors
to an arcade

chart
course

plague
higher calling

miners going further

pull thread
from seam
desperate proposals
leave or lose

go back
to beginning

repeat
word into word

sentence into sentence

phrase into phrase

gale going
through bones

this geography
annihilate them all

don't go

witness
clearly collapse

inhale

exhale

wait for blossoms
to blemish

inevitable
decline

beautiful soil

your deprivation

destinies
destitute

weight
of wonder

weight
of years

weight
of wing

time into time

stone after stone

all night
night into night

horizon hell

horses run
in rings
old man naked
except for hat

celebrate
hard time

howl
for history

then ask
for syringes
now

now in
night's knot

A few months ago, lyrics to a song about Los Angeles came to me out of the blue. That same blue magnet extracted the melody to, “Our Lady of the Angels.” I have a long history with L. A., so the sentiments are genuine. Nevertheless, the provenance of the song is a bit mysterious.

I felt a need to have the song recorded right away. With my usual sources occupied, I determined to record it myself. The Braille Institute which I attend, has a small recording studio. Julius Ancho, who oversees Braille’s IT and electronica library, was delighted to oblige. Julius. a brilliant keyboardist, was also needed to lay down the musical track. For some reason, he is more fascinated by the bells and whistles of the recording unit.

Since Julius could eke out only an hour at a time from his assigned duties, it required many sessions to complete.

After we got underway, Denise Bravell, an ear-perfect musician and composer with whom I have collaborated before at Braille, was invited to join us. She took over track production; thereby freeing up Julius to his fantasy of turning knobs and pushing buttons.

My song-writing partner Tommy Dodson gave the song the finishing touches at our Musical SoCal studios.

Here is the result of all our efforts, as presented on Tommy’s Tableaus.

Although I sing only a portion of the Spanish version I translated, following are the complete lyrics in English and Spanish:

OUR LADY OF THE ANGELS

Our Lady of the Angels,
My always live L.A.,
You make a way for strangers –
Each welcome-mat freeway.

Your beaches-desert option
Define your great expanse.
'The Valley down to Compton,
Your street cred does enhance.

Yes, Hollywood is an actor;
Delighting the eyes of the world;
A great launching pad by Max Factor;
From which myriad stars are hurled.

Our Lady of the Angels;
In Spanish it’s the same;
It rings like ancient church bells,
Los Angeles: Your name!

LA REINA DE LOS ANGELES

(Our Lady of the Angels)

Los Angles, Señora,
Ciudad siempre audaz,
Tú invitas a cada hora,
A un trámsito sin paz.

La playa y el desierto
Tan grande te hacen así.
El Valle San Fernando
Y Compton te hacen a ti.

Sí, Hollywood, el gran actor,
Disfruta de fama mundial.
Y es, sin duda, el factor –
La gran vía celestial.

Señora, te adoramos.
Amada tú serás.
Contentos, te cantamos.
Los Angeles: ¡Hurra!

twigs
tell
furnace
cutting through
time's remnants
corpses
crushed
at feet
drift
sacrifice ram
to monkey
gods
weep
within frame
by frame
fire
storm
sense
mind's
murder
miracle
call out
cry
beloved
wait for me
out on mesa
share skin
with wind
hear out
ezekiel
he
knew
nabuchodonosor
hour
before
hours
somewhere in sewers
exalting in excrement
taste
twig
between your teeth

state towards see

if
it
possible

ask
if you have
arrived

at end

of time

dance as wave
beloved

dance as wave
beloved

but

don't approach

apparitions

now
or
after

voyage à cythere

oncoming flames

obey
omens

matter manufactures
roar

cry
come to cage

whisper
with condemned

man
is a chasm

crashing against another
beginning & end

down to earth
down
to centre of earth

blind
& bound

register tears

start
another arrangement

ends
of world

pull close

too close

colliding in shadow

flee towards east

flee towards south

flee towards north

west wretched
wind

blowing blast
beautiful & brutal

dark chilling rains
begin to fall

birds of prey
gather suns

gaze
when wounded

winds coming close

share
with shadows

hold tightly cord
wherever beyond

chart waters
caught in current
clear

go further

hell
specific geography

walk
down
valley below
below
beloved

remember glance

weep waves

turn
to count

go
down so slow

night
into night

face
pressed into granite

tears trace

so serpent sings
storm
of fire

tongue hanging out
wandering in black
rain

heading north crying
for help
howl
name
near coast

collect fishermen's bones
funeral pyre
beloved

sing another song
wolves quiet
quivering in corner

guests ghouls
inhale ice

judgement day
done deal
l

burning
bodies to cinder

still standing
up
or down

twigs in teeth

scraps of skin

scraps of skin
beloved

time
entering time

ride
night now
into village
near coast
two towns
bear name

forget route

time gone

veins still

howl until hoarse
make out word

sheets of skin
fall
to bottom
of sea

breath by breath
hear sound solemn

close mouth
of ghosts

go
down
another circle
in great fall
of flesh

remember burning bed

torn pages
burning
blue flame

bridge of dead
burned black
skins bursting

bodies
of broken glass

corpses
carried by current
to sea

river
not flowing water

stream of drifting
burned bodies
night knew
man melts

hold lamp

go on

touch
soil or sea

everything evaporates

come with chalice
run
with horsemen

come
overwhelmed by omens

grasp reeds
closer to circle

empty pages written
by absence

remember eating glass

mouth
full of rope

climb time
with tongue

clay
charnel house

drifting dead
choke crevasses

:

corpses crushed
at feet

drift
particular
dance

eden empty

circle within circle

age into age

Ice
corpses crushed
at feet

drift

come this way
again

again
lost

chart chafes
such skin

as possessed
in pyre