the previous scene an exquisitely perverse poem Holly's translation
home to the Prologue

About Practical Alchemy
     Holly Tannen's one-woman, one-entity show, directed by Lynne Abels, debuted to sold-out houses at the Helen Schoeni Theatre in Mendocino, California, February 11th and 12th, 2000.
     Since then, Holly has presented a concert at the Bibliothèque Municipale in Rimbaud's home town of Charleville, in the French Ardennes, and has been filmed by Muriel and Manuel Sanchez for their documentary, Voyages en Rimbaldie.
     Holly is currently at work on a book, Practical Alchemy: Reinventing Love with the Spirit of Arthur Rimbaud. It will include the text and photos of the play, Holly's translations of Rimbaud, and an exploration into the relationship between language and magic. It is scheduled for release in October 2004.
For I am every dead thing,
In whom love wrought new Alchemie...
He ruin'd mee, and I am re-begot
Of absence, darkness, death; things which are not.

-- John Donne
                                   "A Nocturnall Upon St. Lucie's Day,
                 Being the Shortest Day"
Holly extinguishes the candles

Please sign the Guestbook

Pacific Dawn -- photo by John Birchard
"Pacific Dawn" © John Birchard 2000

The ocean tide, the witches' art
Cleanse the stains from out this tortured heart





previous:

Prologue
Poem of the Sea
Deregulation
Abomination
Possession
Codependence
The Tortured Heart
Genius

     Three songs from Practical Alchemy - "The Edge Between", "The Soul Knows Its Own", and "Alembic" - will be included on Holly's forthcoming CD. Entitled "Crazy Laughter," the CD will feature Holly's translations and settings of the poetry of Rimbaud.

Holly's translations of Rimbaud's poetry

Practical Alchemy
Photographs by Antonia Lamb
Practical Alchemy logo by Teresa Whitehill, Colored Horse Studios
Colorization by Roberta Weir
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Mistress of Folklore
Box 1136
Mendocino, California
95460

Fax 707-937-3055
     Holly Tannen teaches folklore and anthropology, and has lectured on contemporary magic at U.C. Berkeley and at Yale University. Her recordings include "Invocation", "Between the Worlds", and "Rime of the Ancient Matriarch"


Holly's home page :  CDs :  concerts :  workshops :  vita :  quotes

Michael Potts, webster updated 28 January 2003 : 7:56 Caspar (Pacific) time

All text, translations, and songs copyright © 2002 by Holly Tannen