TURKEY SONG

A nice one...a nice one...a nice one now gave a sound. A nice...a nice...a nice one now gave a sound. So it did. -Navaho

TURKEY SONG: 4:30 PM, November 21, Thanksgiving day. KPFA radio. 94.1 on the FM dial.

(drawing) The Mayan Turkey Glyph.

I met my first turkey in Mexico. It was the family pet of the owner of the trailer park of the jungle of the pan-american highway. At first I really could not believe the song and dance that turkey put on every time I played upon my my wooden flute. This big Tom would erect his various glands which would change color from pink to blue, inflate his chest, spread his tail feathers and dance all about me. And every single time I hit a certain pitch on the flute, the turkey would gobble. Every time. After a while, and with much practice, I was able to elicit whole complexities of rhythm, harmony, square dance, ballet, John Philip Souza: these birds are masters of what we humans call THE performing arts. And of course they don't perform at all. They simply are turkeys.

Turkey Song: devised by a hummingbird, An interspecies music with: Three hundred Turkeys & Liza Nollman Sybl Glebow Jim Nollman p.6