Anger interrupted,
Dissolving dissonance,
Like ephemeral streams,
Quilting prairie terrain,
Meandering,
Through music,
Of my own making.
Poem written by Sanford Ross Bender on January 18, 2022
Interrupted Anger
Polar Ardor
A short animation about polar life and love created by Camille Wainer (camillewainer.com) in collaboration with composer Sanford Bender (sanfordbender.com).
Inspired by the paper cut style of early animator Lotte Reiniger, Polar Ardor incorporates the additive techniques of woodblock stamping and Chine-collé printmaking to recreate a delicate landscape threatened by division and deterioration.The whimsical music of composer/architect Sanford Bender accompanies each stage of the polar bear’s journey through a varied composition using only two symbolic forms (the heart and the puzzle piece). Simply and subtly, Polar Ardor offers an optimistic message about the importance of collaboration and compassion in the face of an uncertain future.
Lycanthrope
Lycanthrope
Darting furtively through the mist
Cursed under lunar brightness
The valiancy of my heart
Slashed by razor teeth
Became my darkest side
Evil enclosing
My nocturnal lair
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Mud tracked prints
Find me sprawled
In the dawn of twisted sheets
Like tormented trees
Gnarled from remembering
What blackened life
Is forever gone
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
But only the music
Of wind and owls
And the crackling rain
Had abided my incessant howls
Until yet another night
When gliding clouds
Reveal another full newness of moon
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
S.R. Bender, January 8, 2011
Snow dance
Waves of Leaves
Silver Sky of Sadness
Goblin Hot Pot
Dancing around a fiery cauldron bubbling with delicious goblin cuisine ingredients is in stark contrast to coping with real time global dangers that encroach upon our conciousness. Living in art and music is starlight as darkness and its inky blackness thicken and roll out the last glimmers of the day.
And then there is music for the next morning…
Sea Coast
“The Mermaid” (Child No. 289) from the Ballad Book by John Jacob Niles
Oh the stormy winds do blow,
with the landlubbers down below,
And the sailor-men a-climbing to the top,
To haul in the riggin’-o.
T’was Sunday night, our sails were set
We hardly cleared the land-o,
When we spied a mermaid a-swimming by,
A comb and a glass in her hand-o.
The captain plumbed with a lead and a line,
He plumbed for to reach the sand-o,
While the winds and the waves did toss and roar,
We knew we’d never see land-o.
Then three times ’round went our gallant ship,
And three times more went she,
And the mate and the cabin boy said goodbye,
As we sank in the salt, salt sea.
Pictures from from an unknown place
