Natalie Merchant Plays With Words [Utne Reader]
St. Cecilia's Daughters
Tori Amos and Stevie Nicks
Always sing to me
Sarah McLachlan, Aimee Mann
Their spirits bring me glee
Mary Black and Rickie Lee
Kate Bush and Bonnie Raitt
Natalie Merchant into night
She’s with me much of late
Loreena McKennit, Celtic queen
Carly Simon sings the blues
Annie Lennox, Chrissy Hynde
Rock the beat in two's
Janis Ian, Mary Fahl
K.D. Lange and Jewell
Ms. Morissette and Ani D.
Songs so sweet and cruel!
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Ms. Krauss and Patsy Cline
Possessing sacred Hathor’s gift
Your notes reach the divine
Suzanne Vega, Jenna Greene
Gerrard, Sade, and more
Dolores O' Riordon and Liz Phair
All singers I adore.
Joni Mitchell, goddess Moon
Joan Baez and Norah Jones
O, female bardic angels
Breathing heaven's tones
Haunting modern Muses
Graced by Apollo’s Lyre
St. Cecilia's daughters
Whose music does inspire
These subtle, soothing voices
I name are but a few
When I hear the women sing
They keep my focus true.
***
Theo van Joolen©2010
Always sing to me
Sarah McLachlan, Aimee Mann
Their spirits bring me glee
Mary Black and Rickie Lee
Kate Bush and Bonnie Raitt
Natalie Merchant into night
She’s with me much of late
Loreena McKennit, Celtic queen
Carly Simon sings the blues
Annie Lennox, Chrissy Hynde
Rock the beat in two's
Janis Ian, Mary Fahl
K.D. Lange and Jewell
Ms. Morissette and Ani D.
Songs so sweet and cruel!
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Ms. Krauss and Patsy Cline
Possessing sacred Hathor’s gift
Your notes reach the divine
Suzanne Vega, Jenna Greene
Gerrard, Sade, and more
Dolores O' Riordon and Liz Phair
All singers I adore.
Joni Mitchell, goddess Moon
Joan Baez and Norah Jones
O, female bardic angels
Breathing heaven's tones
Haunting modern Muses
Graced by Apollo’s Lyre
St. Cecilia's daughters
Whose music does inspire
These subtle, soothing voices
I name are but a few
When I hear the women sing
They keep my focus true.
***
Theo van Joolen©2010
Saint Cecilia, Guido Reni, 1606, oil on canvas, Norton Simon Museum of Art, Pasadena, California