#11 - Ostinato

Today Fay Roberts examines Mars, and takes in all sorts of cultural wayposts as ze goes (some expanded on below the image).

But now the intro’s done, it’s far too late:
the hot-head with the coldest heart is here;
the tension mounts, you must accept your fate,
for here is one that you can love and fear.

Relentless, red, his pockmarked visage looms,
all atmosphere is drained and breathing grows
so difficult; the coloniser booms,
crescendoed to fortissississimo.

Though many find him lurid and profane,
here’s some who laud him guardian and more –
a route to honour and their rightful gain,
the means to set foot first on further shores.

But while they claim he represents their sex,
there’s more to manhood than a single X.

Mars GIF courtesy of Best Animations (no clue who created it though, sadly)

Some explanations may be necessary – ostinato is a term for “a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch,” which I first encountered in the description of Holst’s first piece in The Planet Suite – Mars, Bringer of War, where the intro’s percussive motif is played col legno, with the strings of the stringed instruments being hit by the wood of the bow. The piece builds to the loudest dynamic in formal, “Western” classical music: fortissississimo (ffff).

Any other interpretations in this poem… well, that’s up to you…