By The Landlord
“Personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald
“The first sentence of a book is a handshake, perhaps an embrace.” – Jhumpa Lahiri
“Gestures, in love, are incomparably more attractive, effective and valuable than words.” – Francois Rabelais
“Sometimes you can look at your own hand and see your father.” – Sam Shepard
“I added and deleted according to the audiences' response to different gestures, and chose songs to build an act that would constantly stimulate my audience.” – Chuck Berry
“I've got a quick mouth, and I set my boundaries. Nothing ever happened that I couldn't handle. Once when a guy came on stage making rude gestures, I hit him over the head with my guitar.” – Suzi Quatro
Trees and shrubs serve pints of blossom
sensing spring's warmer air.
Bees and grubs move drunkenly
from blackthorn, cherry, apple to pear.
This season's brief big Happy Hour,
in white and pink and purple vesture
seems to be a show of power,
a twig and branch defiant gesture,
a thumbs-up to the rites of spring,
a victory-V from Earth's ground floor,
two fingers up to climate ruin,
like Angled archers stretched to Agincourt,
that auld fuck-you to the French.
Some gestures, as that V, are tribal-specific,
others tense, relaxed or clenched,
more all-human hieroglyphic.
So this week's theme is all the gestures,
physical, often made by hand,
conscious signals, direct and digit-all,
referred all lyrical in song and band.
In the past was body language –
involuntary, instinct, subconscious,
gestures here though are deliberate,
gesticulate words, more of consensus.
So many then, in mood and context,
that point or wave, summon, salute –
Grey Wolf, scout, Roman, Vulcan, Nazi?
How with fingers we might compute,
react, respond, with big high-fives,
love signs, 'phone-yous', a shaken fist.
Some can cut air-words like knives,
to warn of impending, descending mist,
make peace, or sign the devil's horns,
protest innocence to a football ref,
or make a complex, gesture form,
manually set up for the deaf.
Or primitively, but beautifully,
mastered by Koko, Kanzi and Wahoe,
sapiens to gorilla, bonobo and chimp,
their hands conversing at their zoo.
A thumb alone might hitch a lift, agree,
but turned down, reject, as a blow,
But Roman gladiators? It's unknown
if 'kill' or 'spare' was pollice verso.
Flat hands hello? Or Greek insulting moutza?
Cultural confusions of the genus.
A pokey thumb fist 'fig sign' completes a
good-luck sign, or naughty poking penis?
Other body parts may come in play –
mouth, limbs, eyebrows, eyes,
expressing all reactions: warning,
disgust, joy, fear, surprise.
And two hands bring a broader range
that talk in constant play,
express, react, with jazz hands (no!)
that rub, or clap, or pray.
Gestures come in music too.
In teaching's method of Kodály
hands expressing pitch and more
from Curwen's scales of parler.
Some are learned, most in-built,
instinctive as instructor,
The baton's passed by natural signs
as choir-leader-conductor.
So then, please, put hands to work,
and see what they, with ears, express,
with songs that cover gestures
in our friendly sharing process.
Loud Atlas is our hands on deck,
taking notes in for the deadline.
Enjoy and flow, link and check.
A time to make a sign.
Liam Gallager displays his knowledge of the Battle of Agincourt …
Bunny ears? Before that, as this French satirical illustration of 1815, cuckold's horns was an insult in perhaps not-so-polite society …
Spare or kill? Pollice Verso by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1872) depicts a Roman gladiator, but the popular thumbs-down gesture was ambiguous
The ‘fig’. A sign of insult, funniness, sex, or good luck, depending on where you are in the world …
Curwen hands signs for a musical scale, also adapted by Hungarian music educationalist Zoltán Kodály.
Passionate conductor Alondra de la Parra points the way
Hand gestures can mean many things, and also form the basis of international sign language
Ape lexicon: some of Koko the gorilla’s favourite sign words
Deadline for nomination is 11pm UK time on Monday for playlists published next week.
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