Category Archives: poetry observed

Willy Walker, a TESC student also working in Media Services, showed us his version of Poetry Observed, which you can check out at Unspoken Northwest (http://www.unspokennw.com/). Check out Button Poetry for inspiration regarding recording parties (http://www.buttonpoetry.com/ ). Note: Sam Cook and Michael Lee are touring the PNW in the spring and we have plans to host them at TESC.

Poetry From the Forest

Insidious One(your best friend and enemy)

I know you, I have known you, I will you know you

Cruel Black Dragon

You slayer of kings

You sinker of ships

ride me low

till the tide breaks

and I am forced to flow

 

The longest journey With every footfall I’m learning to walk again I’m learning to talk again I’m learning to be silent…

 

Kno me?

Know one, can know me

unless they get to know me

unless they get close to me

so these judgments

I toss them out.

These words are fables

Spoken to attack me

I am the one who must know me

 

(re)relapse

Frozen defense mechanism

striped me bear

learning to flow

taught me to repair

growing out

not turning it

Shadows now rise to try and take me back again

 

\Growing Wings/

Arrogant Adolesence find pride in what they can

To build up

little egos.

To Block out the sky

Afraid to fly.

Its to high! they say, but they will pay with their blood

should they stay on the ground

for this is where the tigers stalk the living

already dying

weeping sores hidden under ragged clothes

punctuate the verbage

Arrogant Adolescence shake the youth from your eyes

your wings hide under layers of old flesh

Learn the struggle and the joy that is flight


W o r k

My job

My duty

is to accept

the un
expected

which so
defines                                                                         my      reality without

thesetethers

 

The Shaman Way

trance states, dance and drumming

transmutation: the mundane into the magical

surreality as true reality

Feeling is the most important compass

Playing with the moment

 

Exercises in Flow

Summon  a fire breathing pit demon

and ask it for dancing lessons

Playing with your future

like an REI switcheroo

make like a kangaroo

and bounce

watch, listen, learn

words to shift by

driving yourself crazy

with haze

its only a phaze

if your react to your plight

don’t fight, if you don’t want a snake bite

that slither in stomach

needs your to speak

Parsletongue

 

New Beginnings

Caterpillar crawling on a leaf

cant see past its next bite

wants desperately to melt away

so it consumes its weight in words

till it unfurls

from its cocoon, now a tomb

…and flies away

to a bright and sunny day

 

Siren Calls

I refuse to be drawn off course by the sirens calls.

They taunt me and tempt with false incantations

So that I may smash myself upon their rocky shores.

Stop. Wait. Listen.

Do you hear my soul?

Its beat is heard just below the surface

Where the waves cant reach.

 

Cult-aural Paradigm

Cultural Scion guard the keys to society

dictating what can leave and enter that tall keep.

Look down on those with fleeted feet not walking in lock step’s wake

and the meek shall inherit the dust

 

These fleeting moments

Wise words exchanged on backs of birds

We tie our minds and

Weave our wills

to common goals

we reach

at priceless artifacts to make sense of

our internal landscapes

 

Pen as my feet, feet as my pen

My feet make marks upon the ground

A whispering willow does not make a sound

Moonlight trickles between the leaves

A breeze brushes the land shaping it

                                                          by its hand

 

shackled———-totheshackled

Rigidity is death

Nature can attest to that

she teaches with the hand of experience

gentle at first

but with increasing fervor

till all is laid low

before her mighty breath

she speaks words of power

resonating with those who will listen

sending children to do the work

we pile the weight of ages on the back of the youth

with breaking back we pick up the pieces, but do we have time

to unravel this tattered tapestry of glitz and gold

 

Wo – Poetry Observed

During week 9 of the quarter, quarter research papers were due with presentations for the entire class.  All quarter, I had researched the history, building techniques, and qualities of roof shingles and tiles that developed in Japan.  In this process, I found much beauty and appreciation for the aesthetics of the roof as well as the dedication to quality in the craftsmanship.  The methods of framing and dressing the roof was poetry for me that I saw echoing through the ages and into the present moment.  Here is the power point presentation and I presented to the class.

Download (PPTX, 6.65MB)