| |
I captured this photo in 1991 in southern Utah. A few years
later as I was going through my images I began thinking about
the seeds that were tucked away deeply inside of this cone
protected from the snow, animals, and other destructive forces.
Even after the cone falls to the ground the seeds cannot take
root and grow until a forest fire comes through and burns the
cone. I pondered this incredible phenomena and I became inspired
to write a poem about how winter brings us closer together as we
gather inside near the fireplace with our friends and family,
sharing stories, hot drinks, and laughing. I could see that,
like the seed inside the pine cone, we are best insulated from
the destructive forces of stress by our circle of family and
friends. I was working a day job, but outside of work, for the
next month I became obsessed with writing this poem, spending
every waking moment thinking about it, unable to sleep at night
as thoughts for words continued to race through my head. As you
read this poem you would never know it, the wording sounds so
simple and reads so smoothly, but that was exactly the point, I
wanted it to have perfect rhythm, strong rhyming, smooth flow,
and to be very clear and precise. I paid a local printer to
create two gift cards and printed the poem on wedding paper
which I inserted into the cards, selling them from a number of
gift shops across the Salt Lake Valley and even several stores
in other states. Over the years I have tried setting this poem
to music and came up with dozens of melodies, but none of
them seemed fully worthy of these beautiful lyrics. Never really
satisfied, about three years ago I sat down anew with my guitar and word by word began experimenting with which note would sound
best next. I began recording this song a few months ago and
about a week ago I got Athalie to come in and sing the lead
vocal. This song makes a perfect Season's Greeting card, but it
continues to be a great song to listen to throughout the year,
both during the winter snows, and as a mental relief from the
sweltering summer heat.
(Above: The second image that was used for the two note cards
that I printed for "In a Cone".) |
|
|
