Margaret West 1936-2014

The deep and delicate sounds of Margaret West’s voice has always reminded me of the surface of a beautiful stone. And it was last Sunday that Margaret passed away and it was last Sunday that The Red Room Company and Musica Viva premiered ‘Counterpoint’ a new music-poetry composition featuring Margaret’s poetry.

 Only an hour before the performance I had spoken with Margaret’s son who talked to me of Margaret’s letting go of consciousness. All of us in the project, Luka Lesson, Jessica Wilkinson, Melody Etvos and Claire Edwards felt the profundity of what was the last performance of Margaret’s work, whilst she was alive.

 Claire Edwards’ percussion began to beat, wood and shells wrung the air and skin rumbled. Gently rubbing a clean slate with an object, Claire created the sound of smooth beauty - smooth beauty was my experience of Margaret as a person and of Margaret’s poems.

Amongst last Sunday’s small gathering, was Tamryn and today she told me about the moth -  the soft persistence of this one moth moving to the rhythms throughout the performance. Moth, strange butterfly of darkness winging across the instruments on stage and bouncing against the screen as it displayed Margaret’s artwork and text of her poems.

 A moth on its way towards lunar light. Margaret. Safe travels and love from me and us as you enter faraway unknowns.