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Sleeping Awake

from Haiku Music - Volume 3 by George L Smyth

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he won’t go to sleep
unless we play him the tune
that keeps him awake

This is a haiku by Alvaro Cardona-Hine, poet, painter, composer and long-time Zen student; born in Costa Rica, he spent most of his adult life in the US, and in 1986 opened an art gallery in Truchas, New Mexico, together with his wife Barbara McCauley.

One of the things I love about haiku is the fact that oftentimes there is so much to interpret, and the fun comes with seemingly contadictory statements.

I spent quite a bit of time trying to get a grasp on this particular poem and as I was thinking Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade happened to come on the radio. The idea of idee fixe was combined with a problem I occasionally have where I will sleep for a couple of hours then wake up, sleep another hour then wake up again, until the night has been filled with this pattern. Sleep is an important element in Scheherazade, so the poem’s interpretation became a bit more clear to me.

Sleeping Awake is written for Clarinet, Vibraphone, Violin, Viola, and Cello.

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from Haiku Music - Volume 3, released September 3, 2018

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George L Smyth Columbia, Maryland

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