...in this part of the West the stars, as I had seen them in Wyoming, are big as roman candles and as lonely as the Prince of the Dharma who's lost his ancestral grove and journeys across the spaces between points in the handle of the Big Dipper, trying to find it again [Jack Kerouac, On The Road (New York: Penguin Books, 1976), p. 222]. III — xvii — What Was Just Finished Was Tremulously Ribald. Lethean photons convert fetches of shimmering zest into fine, generic clinkers. These giant pure snows hit finth comet home, twirling into the guarded Hotspur sphere. Jasmine, in semblance to partial vision, shares the crown inter alia, and both horses nettle actors whirling under total knit troth tenets. Privily their poor heist, a gown blinding to see children, Plair is soon fired between spiritual heart throbs. ~ page 215 ~ toccata Act III, Signature xvii - (1) Main Entry: toc£ca£ta Pronunciation: t„-‚kä-t„ Function: noun Etymology: Italian, from toccare to touch, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin— more at touch Date: circa 1724 : a musical composition usually for organ or harpsichord in a free style and characterized by full chords, rapid runs, and high harmonies. [Following text courtesy of Wikipedia]: Renaissance. The form first appeared in the late Renaissance period. It originated in northern Italy. Several publications of the 1590s include toccatas, by composers like Girolamo Diruta, Adriano Banchieri, Claudio Merulo, Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, Luzzasco Luzzaschi and others. These are keyboard compositions in which one hand, and then the other, performs virtuosic runs and brilliant cascading passages against a chordal accompaniment in the other hand. Among the composers working in Venice at this time was the young Hans Leo Hassler, who studied with the Gabrielis; he brought the form back with him to Germany. It was in Germany where it underwent its highest development, culminating in the work of Johann Sebastian Bach more than a hundred years later. Baroque. The Baroque toccata, beginning with Girolamo Frescobaldi, is more sectional and increases in length, intensity and virtuosity from the Renaissance version, reaching heights of extravagance equivalent to the overwhelming detail seen in the architecture of the period. Often it features rapid runs and arpeggios alternating with chordal or fugal parts. Sometimes there is a lack of regular tempo, and almost always an improvisational feel. Other Baroque composers of toccatas, in the period before Bach, include Johann Pachelbel, Michelangelo Rossi, Johann Jakob Froberger, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Alessandro Scarlatti and Dieterich Buxtehude. Bach's toccatas are among the most famous examples of the form, and his Toccata and Fugue in D Minor BWV 565 is one of the most popular organ works today, although its authorship is disputed by some authorities ["BWV 565: a toccata in D minor for organ by J. S. Bach?" Early Music , Vol. 9, July 1981, pp. 330-337]. His toccatas for organ are brilliant improvisatory compositions, and are often followed by an independent fugue movement. In such cases the toccata is used in place of the usually more stable prelude. Bach's toccatas for harpsichord are multi-sectional works which include fugal writing as part of their structure. Post-baroque. Beyond the Baroque period, toccatas are found less frequently. There are a few notable examples, however. From the Romantic period Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt each wrote a piano toccata - the ambitious Schumann piece being considered one of the most technically difficult works in the repertoire and the foremost representative of the genre in the 1800s. The Liszt toccata is a very short and austere composition from his late period, and is practically a toccata only by name. From the early 20th century Prokofiev and Aram Khachaturian each wrote a toccata for solo piano, as did Maurice Ravel as part of Le Tombeau de Couperin , Claude Debussy in his 'Suite: Pour le Piano' and York Bowen's Toccata Op. 155 . Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji wrote several toccatas for solo piano. The toccata form was of great importance in the French romantic organ school, something of which Jacques- Nicolas Lemmens laid the foundation with his Fanfare . Toccatas in this style usually consist of rapid chord progressions combined with a powerful tune (often played in the pedal). The most famous examples are the ending movement of Charles-Marie Widor's Symphony No. 5, and the "Finale" of Louis Vierne's Symphony No. 1 . More recently, John Rutter wrote Toccata in 7, so called because of its unusual time signature. Toccatas occasionally make appearances in works for full orchestra; a notable example is the final movement of the Eighth Symphony of Ralph Vaughan Williams. The final movement of John Adams' Violin Concerto is also entitled "Toccare," a possible reference to the origins of the word toccata. Literature. Robert Browning used the motif or concept of a toccata by Baldassare Galuppi to evoke thoughts of human transience in his poem "A Toccata of Galuppi's" (although Galuppi did not actually write any piece with the name 'Toccata') [Charles Van Den Borren, "Research regarding the fictional toccata by Galuppi of Browning's poem," The Musical Times , May 1, 1923, pp. 314–316]. Ground-level poison ivy in Perrot State Park, Trempealeau County, Wisconsin. Author: SWMNPoliSciProject, May 29, 2010.* uriushiol Act III, Signature xvii - (2) Either of two North American species of white-fruited woody vinesor shrubs of the sumac, or cashew, family. The species found in eastern North America ( Toxicodendron radicans ) is abundant; a western species, known as poison oak, is less common. Both species are sometimes classified as genus Rhus. A key identifier is leaves with three mitten-shaped leaflets. Contact with urushiol, an oil produced by the plant, can cause severe inflammation and blistering of human skin. Urushiol may be carried from the plant on clothing, shoes, tools, or soil; by animals; or by smoke from burning plants. Because urushiol is nonvolatile, a reaction may result from wearing clothing a year or more after its contact with the plant. [*Image & caption and following text courtesy of Wikipedia]: Urushiol (pron.: /ʊʊruʊʊi.ʊl/) is an oily organic allergen found in plants of the family Anacardiaceae, especially Toxicodendron spp. (e.g., poison oak, poison ivy, poison sumac). In sensitive individuals, urushiol can cause an allergic skin rash on contact [Buck Tilton, Wilderness First Responder: How to Recognize, Treat, and Prevent Emergencies in the Backcountry (Globe Pequot, 2004)], known as urushiol-induced contact dermatitis. The name comes from the Japanese word for the tree Toxicodendron vernicifluum ( , urushi?)[ Oxford English Dictionary ]. The oxidation and polymerization of urushiol in the tree's sap in the presence of moisture allows it to form a hard lacquer, which is used to produce traditional Chinese, Korean and Japanese lacquerware. Characteristics. Urushiol is a pale-yellow liquid with specific gravity of 0.968 and a boiling point of 200 °C (392 °F). It is soluble in alcohol, ether, and benzene [ Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary , 14th Ed. (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2002), http://www.knovel.com/web/portal/knovel_content...]. Urushiol is a mixture of several closely related organic compounds. Each consists of a catechol substituted with an alkyl chain that has 15 or 17 carbon atoms. The alkyl group may be saturated or unsaturated. The exact composition of the mixture varies depending on the plant source. Whereas western poison oak urushiol contains chiefly catechols with C17 side-chains [C. Michael Hogan, "Western poison-oak: Toxicodendron diversilobum," Nicklas Stromberg, Ed., r GlobalTwitcher (2008), http://globaltwitcher.auderis.se/artspec_information.asp?thingid=82914], poison ivy and poison sumac contain mostly catechols with C15 side-chains. The likelihood and severity of allergic reaction to urushiol is dependent on the degree of unsaturation of the alkyl chain. Less than half of the general population reacts with the saturated urushiol alone, but over 90% react with urushiol containing at least two degrees of unsaturation (double bonds). Longer side chains tend to produce stronger reaction [McGovern, Tomas, Barkley, Theodore, "Review Botanical Dermatology," International Journal of Dermatology , Vol. 37 (1998), pp. 321-334]. This suggests that the allergic contact dermatitis is caused by Van der Waals forces [ibid]. Before urushiol has been absorbed by the skin it can be removed with soap and water. However, time is of great importance as 50% of urushiol can be absorbed within 10 minutes. Once urushiol has penetrated into the skin, attempting to remove with water is inefficient [ ibid ]. Once urushiol has been absorbed by the skin it is recognized by the immune system's dendritic cells called langerhans cells. These cells then migrate to lymph nodes where they present the urushiol to T-lymphocytes and thus recruit them to the skin. Once in the skin, the T-lymphocytes cause pathology by producing cytokines and cytotoxic damage to the skin [Gober, D. Michael, et al, "Human Natural Killer T Cells infiltrate into the Skin at Elicitation Sites of Allergic Contact Dermatitis," Journal of Investigative Dermatology , Vol. 128 (2008), pp. 1460-1469]. Urushiol is an oleoresin contained within the sap of poison ivy and related plants, and after injury to the plant or during late fall, the sap leaks to the surface of the plant where the urushiol becomes a blackish lacquer after contact with oxygen at a certain temperature and humidity [McGovern (1998);Robert L. Rietschel, Joseph F. Fowler, Alexander A. Fisher, Fisher's Contact Dermatitis (PMPH-USA, 2008), pp. 408–; Donald G. Barceloux, Medical Toxicology of Natural Substances: Foods, Fungi, Medicinal Herbs, Plants, and Venomous Animals (John Wiley and Sons, 2008), pp. 681–]. ~ page 216 ~ Szechuan Act III, Signature xvii - (3) Main Entry: Szech£uan Variant: or Szech£wan \‚sech-ƒwän, ‚sesh-\ Function: adjective Etymology: Szechwan or Szechuan (Sichuan), province in China Date: 1956 : of, relating to, or being a style of Chinese cooking that is spicy, oily, and especially peppery.