Tracking the lyric valuables in the shadow of Lone Cone on Colorado's Western Slope
Sunday, March 26, 2023
Tuning into KTMH 89.9 Light Praise Radio
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Vernal Equinox
My snowshoes don't sink
Aren't lead weights dragging my glide
down into the subsurface melt zone
No deep step break trail
plod of tracks into sinkholes
of afternoon sun slush
Poles flash like outriggers as I sail
across a night freeze snowpack
tacking to the storm's light flakes
Pausing for just a moment to swig
a canteen & lay a hand blessing
on my favorite pine
Friday, March 10, 2023
Snowshoeing
Perception
Putting on the gloves & turning
southwest to my poles
I catch a blast of gold mahogany
on the Utah horizon
A knock-out break in the dusk's
concrete gray overcast
Light peltings of snow crystals
melt on my parka
The coda of the clouds chases me
down Oak Hill's slopes
where, on the ropes, I can see
through the storm's
weakening punches. A peek of blue
sky east towards
the Wilsons. Mist rising from
the ring of Wrights Mesa
I snow-walk my tracks back
to Thunder Trails Road
where my patient bot-mobile waits
for me & life's key
McRedeye sez
"I'm no determinist like Einstein
WISIWYCM. WISIWYCM
What I See Is What You Call the Multiverse
I call itki me"
Friday, March 3, 2023
Reinventing Politics
RADICAL MIDDLE ... There was a younger time in my life when I was an activist. A radical. I was proud of trying to get to the root of issues and finding solutions ... However, as viable solutions continued to evade my grasp or anyone’s handle, I began to discover my elder self, as ecophilosopher Donna Haraway would say, “staying with the trouble.” Housing. Transportation. Cost of living. The issues haven’t changed much in the 40+ years I’ve lived in San Miguel County ... Once a devotee of Dave Foreman, I refused to compromise and stood firm for what I felt was right. But for the last couple decades, as a county commissioner (emeritus now), I found myself listening to all my constituents, even the ones I fervently disagreed with. And in the process came to realize political solutions have to come from balanced, understandable, out-of-the-box thinking (radical) that a majority can support (middle), not the agendas of the right or left fringes ... Here’s a couple examples of journalists who eschew Fake News and take us into the thickets of issues, raising uncomfortable questions that need resolving before political action can be appropriately taken ... As we’ve learned from the national embarrassment of Rep. George Santos, media (local newspapers in particular) are our first line of defense against lies, deceptions, mis- and dis-information. And, best of all, they can educate the public about complex issues, so citizens can come to a reasonable understanding and take informed action, as needed.
FOUR CORNERS FREE PRESS ... Dr. Janneli Miller did a masterful job educating the regional public about the pros and cons of solar power in general, and in their specific applications being proposed for Montezuma County in the February issue on the newsstands now in Cortez and Dolores. There are tradeoffs, unwelcome impacts and essential mitigations for all our industrialized power systems, solar included. We shouldn’t shy away from addressing them. And we should resist becoming mere boosters for what seems to be the right thing to do without doing the deep research before making complex political decisions.
GUNNISON COUNTRY TIMES ... Publisher Alan Wartes runs my favorite small-town paper on the Western Slope ... The majority of the state’s citizens passed a recent wolf re-introduction ballot measure. The Gunnison region is one of the targets for this year for a program that Colorado Parks & Wildlife is developing, and ranching community there is very concerned ... Whatever your ideological position for or against, they are the ones on the ground who will bear a hefty barrel of impacts to their already close-to-the-bone operations ... Editor Bella Biondini has been doing extensive coverage of the local hearings. But she also penned an op-ed piece, “The debate isn’t just about the science,” describing her strong environmental leanings and support for the gray wolf’s reintroduction, but chronicles her concerns with holes in the CPW’s draft plan for reintroduction in Gunnison country and “the incredible challenge at hand.” She calls for the state agency to listen carefully to the people who will be most impacted by this action ... And to sure the community understood the issue, the Country Times published a strong column by respected rancher/environmentalist Ken Spann outlining the problems the Gunnison County Stockgrowers Association have with the state process. To find out more of this perspective, go HERE.
Janice Gould |
TALKING GOURD ... Colorado Springs professor and poet friend Janice Gould passed away in 2019 but has left us many wonderful poems. Here’s an excerpt from The Force of Gratitude (Headmistress Press, Sequim, WA, 2017). Highly recommended.
What Dawn Brings
A solitary raven wings from the piñón
as sky lightens to azure.
Sun warms the kitchen counter and a few ants
venture forth, exploring.
I watch, sipping coffee, intrigued by their industry,
their single-minded purpose.
I wander from room to room, stare out the glass doors,
write a few lines – feeling my way
through stone and mud like the root of a tree,
the smallest tendril
scratching millimeter by millimeter to secure
a place in the world.
-Janice Gould
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
New Performance Poetry Troupe
Photo by Trish Hopkinson |
Telluwriters
& the Passing of the Gourd
San Miguel County has a new poetry/storytelling ensemble making the rounds.
It's a shifting cast of players depending on who's available. Three of us performed to a full house for a live show at the Lithic Bookstore in Fruita Feb. 17th -- Daiva Chesonis, Elle Metrick and moi. And four of us made it to the Bluecorn Candle Factory & Cafe in Montrose -- our first three players plus Joanna Spindler.
We chose the name Telluwriters even though none of us actually live in the town limits. Telluride, however, is the economic & artistic heart of the region. We all work and play there and perform there as well. Daiva, Craig, Elle and I live in Norwood -- or most accurately outside Norwood on Wrights Mesa.
Photo by Trish Hopkinson |
Peter hails from Trout Lake, Rosemerry from Placerville, Joanna from Hastings Mesa & The Electric Angel from Lawson Hill.
Depending on who comes, we like to do round robin readings so as to shine the spotlight on a medley of voices.
We often end with what David Feela of Cortez calls "a shark attack" -- a rapid-fire series of short poems read back-to-back as a kind of finale.
The Passing of the Gourd is a "playground" (aka workshop) that we do after our performances.
Photo by Jennifer Hancock |
If we can, we like to we form a circle and pass the gourd around the gathering. We encourage folks to read a poem of their own (or someone they like), tell a story, sing a song, make a quick comment -- or just nod silently and pass the gourd on to the next person.
Gourd Circles have been a feature of Talking Gourds poetry events for going on 20 years here on the Western Slope. They sprang from the work of the late eco-philosopher Dolores LaChapelle and her Silverton-based Way of the Mountain Center.
This is a different way of sharing poetry than the standard walk up to the stage “open mic” kind of thing. Gourd Circles involve deep listening as well as performing, as there’s no cross talk (although twinkling or "jazz hands" are welcome). The person with the gourd has the floor.
Tellwriters have upcoming gigs in Cortez, Naturita, Durango and Grand Junction.
Currently the Talking Gourds Poetry Program is administered by the Telluride Institute and can be found on their website: tellurideinstitute.org/talking-gourds
Here is the poem that Daiva wrote and read in Lithuanian, while Elle and I took turns doing the English at our first Telluwriters show in Fruita back in February:
Poetiniai Ryšiai
Poetic Relations
Gavau pranešimą apie federalinius mokesčius
I got my federal tax notice
Taigi aš perskaičiau Tony Hoglando
So I read some Tony Hoagland
Aš verkiau pamačiusi trapų upės jauniklį
I cried at the sight of a frail river fawn
Taigi perskaičiau Marija Oliver
So I read some Mary Oliver
Netekau draugės, kuri buvo nuostabi mama
I lost a friend who was a fabulous mom
Taigi aš perskaičiau Ada Limon
So I read some Ada Limon
Numatiau karštą sekso naktį
I predicted a hot night of sex
Taigi aš perskaičiau Pablo Nerudo
So I read some Pablo Neruda
Mačiau neteisybę ant gimtosios žemės dėmės
I witnessed injustice on a smear of native land
Taigi perskaičiau šiek tiek Joy Harjo
So I read some Joy Harjo
Man reikėjo pertraukos nuo pilnametystės kančių
I needed a break from the harangue of adulting
Taigi perskaičiau šiek tiek Šel Silversteino
So I read some Shel Silverstein
Išgėriau per daug ir gailėjaus dėl vėlyvos nakties žinutės
I drank too much and regretted a late-night text
Taigi perskaičiau šiek tiek Bukauskio (ir žinoma, Jack Muellerio)
So I read some Bukowski (and of course, Jack Mueller)
Akmenys kaba iš medžio ir procese,
vėl tapam žmogumi.
Stones hang from the tree and in the process,
a fine balance.
Tuesday, February 14, 2023
Reimagining Kinship
Wild Mind Wild Earth
“...the unsayable reality of contact...” -D. Hinton
Steel needle
pierces the weave
Blunt head. Big eye
Pulls strands of
turquoise, coal &
alabaster
What the heart carries
Then wrap & tie
encircling
A basket for
the ten thousand things
Thunk of snow
slips off the roof
Startling. Settling
into melt
The world skips a beat
like the deep silence
in a song. In a poem
Sunday, February 12, 2023
Super Bowl Sunday
DIRECTIONS
Two telephone poles
up Thunder Road
due south
Or
a zigzag break-trail weave
snowshoeing
across a glaze of
crystalline hoar crust
& thickets of unbent oak
Old leaves
like hovering avatars
the Way of the Mtn
山路