• Home
  • Posts
  • Tag cloud
  • Zach basics
  • Contact me

April

  • Life as we know it

I listened to the Airborne Toxic Event album. It’s called Tales of God and Whiskey. It’s not bad! One title caught my eye. It was April is the Cruelest Month. Being April, I played it first.

I’m really bad about getting lyrics out of listening to a song. It’s usually dozens, if not more, listenings before I pay more than cursory attention to the lyrics. Sorry, lyricists!

But ‘April is the cruelest month’ is a quote from somewhere. I thought it was Eliot and I was right. Here’s an excerpt, posted on goodreads.com, from The Waste Land:

April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.

Right below the Eliot quote are two poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay. The second hit me right between the eyes:

To what purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough.
You can no longer quiet me with the redness
Of little leaves opening stickily.
I know what I know.
The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
The spikes of the crocus.
The smell of the earth is good.
It is apparent that there is no death.
But what does that signify?
Not only under ground are the brains of men
Eaten by maggots.
Life in itself
Is nothing,
An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.
It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers

Edna St. Vincent Millay T. S. Eliot The Airborne Toxic Event
April 18, 2017 Chris

Post navigation

Kirk → ← Zach’s music

One thought on “April”

  1. Jeremy says:
    April 18, 2017 at 7:25 pm

    Mikel the lead singer is also a novelist, and I remember reading once that one of the founding visions of the band was to create literary rock.
    They might notbe my favorite band but they’re probably the most interesting. The violist runs string workshops for aspiring young girls.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Categories

  • Books
  • Family
  • Goals
  • Health
  • Life as we know it
  • Music
  • Nuts and bolts
  • Personal History
  • Politics
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Work
  • Zach Stories

Search

Copyright Notice

All content © 2016-2025
Christopher J. Wood
All Rights Reserved

April 2017
S M T W T F S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30  
« Mar   May »

Archives

  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • February 2024
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • July 2023
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • December 2021
  • October 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • September 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • November 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
Powered by WordPress | theme cats456