Topic Tags:
0 Comments

Stravinsky on Original Instruments

David Lumsden

Oct 01 2013

1 mins


 

Montenegro kicked off the Balkan Wars,

and la bande à Bonnot were rounded up at last:

high time to bring some violence to the ballet.

 

Across the Atlantic, the Armory Show

stirred up Greenwich Village,

and some clown invented the crossword.

 

There were nudes descending staircases,

and quantum-theory’s crazy stomp.

We feigned the primitive, like Piltdown Man.

 

Three hundred years of Romanovs

could not pass unanswered,

the nose-dive of a stalled regime.

 

There was trouble in the blood,

and no course clear, Europe

—like RMS Titanic—in the dark.

 

David Lumsden

 

Comments

Join the Conversation

Already a member?

What to read next

  • Letters: Authentic Art and the Disgrace of Wilgie Mia

    Madam: Archbishop Fisher (July-August 2024) does not resist the attacks on his church by the political, social or scientific atheists and those who insist on not being told what to do.

    Aug 29 2024

    6 mins

  • Aboriginal Culture is Young, Not Ancient

    To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the case

    Aug 20 2024

    23 mins

  • Pennies for the Shark

    A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten

    Aug 16 2024

    2 mins