observations about random play, pigeons and a poem

i, like many other people, have an mp3 player. i, like many other people, use random play. i, perhaps like other people, wonder why it is that some songs get chosen all the time, sometimes twice within an hour, and others don't. is it like it used to be at school, that some people are just so much more popular than others? but, in the case of the mp3 player: with whom? is there a little music freak sitting among the files and folders?

since i've had it, the wonderful little gadget has proven a distinct preference for the songs of adam green (almost all of them), the walkabouts, several of franz ferdinand's, omd's maid of orleans, martha wainwright's don't forget, the church's under the milky way tonight, joss stone's you had me, amy winehouse's fuck me pumps, and azure ray's november. on the other hand, it has never, as far as i remember, played goldfrapp's black cherry, damien rice's the blower's daughter, jamie o'neal's all by myself, or travis' only molly knows, and today was the first time in those many weeks that it played me sarah mclachlan's fumbling towards ecstasy.

two days ago i deleted some of the songs it kept repeating, and it is now choosing its new favourites, i can already see that.

fortunately for my happy mood, it seems to really like tom lehrer's poisoning pigeons in the park, which is just great as a first song to hear on a cold winter morning! :)

All the world seems in tune
On a spring afternoon,
When we're poisoning pigeons in the park.
Ev'ry Sunday you'll see
My sweetheart and me,
As we poison the pigeons in the park.

When they see us coming, the birdies all try an' hide,
But they still go for peanuts when coated with cyanide.

so - how about your mp3 player / ipod?

oh and before i get off the topic of music: the latest belle & sebastian album, the life pursuit, is a gem, song after terrific song!

day five of the 30/30 madness, no poem yet. but i managed to come up with something quite long yesterday. it's funny sometimes. i jotted down three lines during a break at work, thinking "what on earth am i going to do with those?", but then it all fell into place. here is the whole thing. and please don't ask where this came from. go ask the muse. she is the one in control.

dream in c major

have you noticed how fish arrange
themselves in concentric circles
whenever i enter the room?

horses neigh backwards, tulips fold
themselves in origami-ikebana
style when i wink at them.

streets never grumble underneath
my feet, i sleepwalk them into
existence, dream their bends.

continents reassemble quietly,
volcanoes opt for extinction
before i've said a word.

i charted every inch of sky,
refused the sun a vaster
orbit, a pet snake god.

i left left no seam unstitched, no
threads untied, fingers fighting
their goddamn pride.

there is nothing my hands cannot
hold: pliable water, rigid streaks
of lightning, the number pi.

there's no syllable my mouth hasn't
uttered, tongue sore from brazen
letters, wayward sounds.

i stole the crumbs from hansel and i
will unravel your story, too, if you
don't say the word, if you don't

call me crystal-gazer, call me
clam in a shell, red-eyed
queen of night.