John Cage

The Art of Silence

By: Charles Giuliano - Jun 05, 2015

John Cage

Sweet and charming
Avant-garde master
Sly prankster
John Cage
Made edible paper
Rugg Road in Allston
List of natural ingredients
Selected by
Tossing coins
Chance operations
Evoking ancient oracle
I Ching
Inspired he told me
Seeing homeless boys
In Brazil
Boiling paper
To fill their stomachs
Video shown
Each semester
First meeting of
Avant-garde seminar
Boston University
Included his score
For rests
Performed by David Tudor
Stop watch and piano
4’ 33”
We sat quietly
Hearing ambient sound
In the room
Mind wandering
Filling a brief
Interval of time
For the students
Nothing happened
Discussion that followed
Total outrage
What is art
The more they ranted
The better I liked it
Established a dialogue
In meetings that followed
Ever more outrageous
They came to understand
Learning to listen
Great art can be
About nothing
Which is to say
Everything including
The sound of silence

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Reader Comments

"I'm not sure why this piece came up on my mail this am as not read. But as my father-in-law would say, "So be it." Here goes. The young and inexperienced are easy to impress, for whom all is new, and who themselves are adept at provoking, which is the way of the west, here inspired by the so-called east. Chinese poetry is rich, modern and concise. It lacks the rhetoric-rich tradition of our own. What was rest of the semester about? Teaching complexity is hard, as is gaining experience. Cage can engage, more often bore. As for the youngsters, the mind adrift is the mind adrift. Great art, which you call it, is never about nothing. A huge error. The art of scale, or minimal art, is no exception. There is a streak of anti culture, anti intellectualism, that is no friend of art. The later come comes with hard work, on the part of the created and the audience. As my old college (Latin) motto said, "Nothing without hard labor." It must seem easy, that's the art. I think the poem should end with "What is art?" The rest is didactic. Belated."

Posted By: Stephen Rifkin on 08-30-2015, 09:31 am
"Love the energy and insight in your poetry Most enjoyable! Distinctive style, Chas"

Posted By: Melissa Cummings on 06-05-2015, 06:49 pm
"i remember sitting at Chapin Hall, a couple of years ago, listening to that silence while the musicians sat quietly on the stage. This poem gave me great pleasure, a quiet, loving, thoughtful journey to places in the psyche, and what we value and find meaning in. What wonderful rich memories, Charles!"

Posted By: Wilma Rifkin on 06-05-2015, 03:47 pm
"Cage in Anaphoric chamber at Harvard. Sound of blood moving and nerves buzzing."

Posted By: jane Hudson on 06-05-2015, 11:19 am
"Charles: a thunderous applause for the way you accurately captured the man!!!"

Posted By: Wendy Tarlow Kaplan on 06-05-2015, 11:03 am
"Charles, nice try at rescuing the lil'rascal from a well deserved place in the history of art with the great Jokers. You know who they are. I don't know much about art but I know I don't like nothing about nothing. Your poem is not nothing, but for a firebrand you come mighty close to defending an expired sell-by-date product of academic art. Like my rant? Looking forward to seeing you at your book signing."

Posted By: Jonas on 06-05-2015, 10:55 am
"Absolutely. Love this and JC"

Posted By: Brenda on 06-05-2015, 10:29 am