Jessica Purdy, Sonic Fugue

American, b. 1969, playing from Exeter, NH, USA

Jessica Purdy holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. She has a BA in English and Studio Art from UNH. Her poetry has appeared in Flycatcher 3, The Foundling Review, Literary Mama, "What is Home", (the 2007 Portsmouth Poet Laureate program’s publication), Ethereal Dances, Analecta, The Beacon Street Review, and Main Street magazine. She teaches Creative Writing at Southern New Hampshire University. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and two children.

www.exeterpoetry.com

Thoughts on the Telephone process

My experience with this “translation” felt very organic. After listening to the piece of music several times, I wrote down initial impressions, simple words, images that came to mind. Then I slept on it for about a week and came back to it. Once I started linking the phrases and images together, it started to form itself into a concept. I had no intention of an outcome, but the outcome came about entirely through the music. I was enthralled with the experience. I felt like it was a gift. It felt like a “found” poem, since I never would have written it without listening to the music. I think it stands on its own as a poem, but I cannot wait to see what the original message was and compare my translation to it!