Hi ho, MMMLogerinos!

I never know who's reading MMMLog. It's so exciting to hear from a fellow Airedale lover looking for a groomer; a writer from the Veronica Mars TV show or a PR pro representing 217 Records' Whittier Bicentennial Recording Project. After I'd posted my fond memory of my mother's reciting John Greenleaf Whittier's masterwork poem, Snow-Bound, I received an email from Tami Kennedy about the Whittier Recording Project. She kindly sent me the Project's first audio CD of Snow-Bound read by Michael Maglaras, founder of 217 Records. Click on excerpt to listen to a sample.

The Snow-Bound CD features music that conjures twilight and an impending winter storm. Then Maglaras's soothing voice further invokes the setting . . .

The sun that brief December day
Rose cheerless over hills of gray,
And, darkly circled, gave at noon
A sadder light than waning moon.
Its mute and ominous prophecy,
A portent seeming less than threat,
It sank from sight before it set.

Though the words and music seem gloomy and lonely, Maglaras's recitation is calm and heartfelt. At first, this seemed a mismatch to me. Then I realized that I'd heard this poem recited by my mother in a rhythmic presentation that was fast paced. When I'd read the poem I'd heard it in my head in much the same way. Maglaras performs the piece as if it were a tender memory of his own childhood, perhaps as Whittier himself would have read it. Listening is such a different experience than reading, and I soon found myself deeply relaxed and dreaming along with the author remembering his winter idyl so long ago.

I'm very grateful to have heard this marvelous CD of Whittier's epic poem. I will be sending it along to my mother so that she may enjoy being Snow-Bound in the high desert of northwestern Arizona.

MMMMMMMMMmmmmmelinda
"The traveller owns the grateful sense
Of sweetness near, he knows not whence,
And, pausing takes with forehead bare
The benediction of the air."
Snow-Bound, John Greenleaf Whittier