Theophonola

Theophonola   ©2011 David Keating - Colombia Grafonola record player, typewriter, paper, ink, lightning rods, roof finials, car horn, heat lamp reflector, copper flourishes, carbon filament light bulb, silver teaspoons, brass frames.

Biblical typology (pun intended) assumes that Old Testament events prefigure New Testament ones: Mt. Sinai becomes Calvary, Moses becomes Jesus, and the Law becomes the Word. In this piece, a short prose poem in the typewriter carriage reimagines Psalm 114 — while punning on the actions of a typewriter:

“ # $ % _ & ‘ ( ) *

As Egypt rolls out o’er the reeds / Another carriage past return

UP jumps Sinai / BACK springs Jordan / OUT pours Judah

O, my Judah… / Why?

Here the typewriter’s top row of symbol keys stands in for the ten plagues of Egypt, the Red Sea is recast as the baptizing Jordan, and Moses’ exclusion from The Promised Land becomes a harbinger of Christ’s sacrifice.

If we extend the conceit, the typewriter’s ROYAL logo might allude to both Moses’ princely Egyptian boyhood and the Latin initialism INRI (‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews’) found on many crucifixes.

The “G” shaped car horn above the typewriter might refer to the first sound, a musical clef, the masonic G, or simply God. It also evokes the Exodus story and the terrifying shofar blasts accompanying the lightning and thunder at Sinai when God established a covenant with the people of Israel.

Towering above the piece are antique lightning rods, complete with the glass balls that would explode after a lightning strike to signal potential property damage. The silver and gold orbs symbolize the moon and the sun — represented to the left and right of the cross in many Crucifixion paintings.

Lit from below at night, the typewriter casts a dramatic fiery glow across the ceiling (the Burning Bush?) and throws a dramatic “W” (for Word?) onto the wall. The title of the piece is meant to suggest a device that produces the appearance or sound of God.