From what I can find out, Richard Rolle had a sort of breakdown in late adolescence that led him to withdraw from society and live alone for thirty years or so until he died of plague. Remarkably, he wrote this book as an extended exhortation to others to leave behind their worldliness and join him in the very subjective place that he occupied in his mind. To reflect that subjectivity, and his self-marginalization, I chose music that spoke of being outside, and of being a little possessed (David Rothenberg in essence goes to bird sanctuaries with other wind musicians and they jam with the bird calls).

It pleases me that you find the work hard to categorize or understand. I view art as an attempt to make some small part of the world over again, so it is better than it was. This means it will be new, ergo incomprehensible, until a context can be formed for it. I hope to revive interest among younger people in the type of radical withdrawal from society that Rolle’s career suggests.

Thank you for your interest. If you want to explore another (non Christian) aspect of my poetic reinterpretations, you might visit the feed for The Unstruck Drum of Eternity also on itunes.

Kind regards,

Jabez L. Van Cleef

I somehow doubt in any case this poetry would make my must-listen playlist but to your point, it’s really hard to judge the effort in the face of such an odd soundbed.

BTW http://www.gcast.com/artist/palimpsestofhumanrights/podcast/anchorite?nr=1&&s=160406302 is a nicer link for your random visitor…