Gil Seeley has taken over my music history class for the remainder of the semester. On our way to the twentieth century, we took a pit stop at Mahler. We watched a good portion of the movie "Bride of the Wind" in class today - and our assignment is to write a poem about it. (Gil really likes to make his students write poetry in response to whatever is going on in class, so I may be posting many of those in the next few weeks.)
Anyway, the movie is about Mahler's wife, Alma. She was about 20 years his junior, a pianist, a composer, and the most beautiful woman in Vienna. Alma was a very outspoken and liked to break tradition. She gave up composing when she married Mahler and grew into resenting how much of her life and self she gave to their marriage.
Here's my stream-of-conscious-esqe poem from the first hour-ish of the film written from Alma's perspective (Mahler called her Almshee).
Alma's Dilemma, Almshee's Heartbreak
Vienna carnival, intoxicating, overwhelming, promiscuous
What is the cost of breaking the rules of my society?
Simplicity wars with complexity
Traditional constraints limiting my expression, my art
Speaking my mind sometimes causes me troubles
Sometimes leading me to pleasant surprises
Talents trying to fight their way through mishap and imposed constraints
Talent meets beauty, beauty falls for the big head
Overwhelming sound, a fight for the overwhelming beauty
A symphony for the world, a symphony about the world
Tradition causes tension, changing tradition leads to inspiration
Pleasant surprises changing old pans, creating new relationships
Traditions changing with the arrival of new peoples
I gave up one love and life for another, so many sorrows unforeseen
Death of our child, the saddest melody running through our heads
His heart irreparably broken
I met a new flame to dance away my pain
His heart emotionally and physically dying
My flame burning the bridge we had built between us
Only partially rescued when we left for a new world
Letters across the ocean keep me company
He returns home frail, his vitality shrivelling from his dying heart
I don't need to go to the cemetery to remember him
New flames try to bring back by soul and vitality
