Ali Holder

Moons Over the Garden // June 19th 🥀

Every month, I am a part of a songwriting group called the Translitic. This exercise comes from my buddy . You take a poem in a different language (one you can’t read/speak) and go line by line, translating each sentence into your own jibberish. It’s a bit of a long-winded but very fun process (if you’re a songwriting nerd).
___________

For example:
É ferida que dói e não se sente

Jibberish Translation #1:
The furnace who does not stay sentient
________

Translation #1:
The furnace who does not stay sentient

Translation #2:
Does fire not stay sentient?
__________

Translation #2:
Does fire not stay sentient?

Translation #3:
Is fire not sentient?
____________

And so on and so on with each line of the poem until you have your own poem of sorts (which you then turn into a song draft by draft). The examples are just sentences, but you do this to the whole poem, one draft at a time.

My favorite part of this exercise is that it digs pretty deep into your subconscious. Some end up angry, some political, some sad. It’s such a nuanced way to parse out your emotions, picking up on themes that you feel but may not be entirely aware of yet.

There’s a deeper meaning behind this song (as there always is), but I wanted to highlight the facilitation that got me there first.

Moons Over the Garden is streaming everywhere on June 19th 🌕

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