reading of the mythtime

"... the wild time ... mythtime surrounds historical time the way the forest and the ocean and the sky surround a village ... the mythtime is self-sustaining, alive and independent of human control ... myth is a richly complex piece of knowledge, like a theorem or a language or a genome: an inheritance too precious to be left, like a trademark or a patented procedure, in the realm of the privately owned ... the mythtime covers for a timeless moment, a familiar human space ..." (Nine Visits to the Mythworld: Ghandl of the Qayahl Llaanas)

- See: Terms Artists First Nation

:: note :: ... Robert Bringhurst ... Animal and the Human ... we were told ...

The eVOCative Crow Hop at the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company ended with the traditional round dance ... all performers, staff, attending poets, conference organizers, volunteers, supporters & audience linked hand in hand ... the center empty a birthing womb ...

just a couple of hours before Joseph Naytowhow had drummed the space awake with a morning song, cleansed the ear with flute breath love and jigged joy energy to welcome all the relations this summer solstice on National Aboriginal Day in honour of "the broad range of contemporary Aboriginal oralities from storytelling and song to poetry, spoken word, and hip hop" (program notes) ...

Marie Campbell, reading from her in-progress work, honoured Metis women. Her understated, quiet voice, warm from a story told in Cree about a priest and a women, held authority and reverence but most importantly the words were testaments to women history had unwitnessed.

the mixed bloodlines of families, our tribe, our elders, our mothers & fathers and our children & children to be were honoured by Anishinaabe poet/scholar Kimberly Blaeser. Then backed by her the beats of her brother, Eekwol honoured the rising activist power of Indigenous Plains Cree & Hip Hop. Arms pumped the air in solidarity to all brothers and sisters of the nation. Strong & eloquent Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm read edgy hommages. Surprise guest Gregory Scofield Singing Home the Bones filled the hot crowded room with a palpable sense of pride ... pride of the past ... pride in sharing the missing stories ... pride in language ...

through it all & always with a glint in his eye artist bionic bannock boy from (kept reminding us of this) James Smith Cree First Nation in northern Saskatchewan , Neal McLeod , curator&creator of Crow Hop injected zones of humour, Cree fun, context and respect ... fittingly the final words, Sons of a Lost River, were his for so much of the evening would not have happened without his bold bringing together of this group ...

birth, life & death renewed we spilled out into 22nd Street the drum beat pulsing in our souls ...

- See: Artists Festival First Nation

:: note :: ... no more to say ...

a wonderful eclectic evening in the Oak Room of The Park Town -- eVOCative Performance Cabaret ... the program reads:

"The eVOCative cabaret brings to our stage five innovative, politically-engaged & dynamic writers and performers. These artists are influenced by, and follow in, a broad range of traditions from sound poetics and dub to feminist performance art, dramatic monologue, and experimental language poetics - all to remarkable effect. There is no way to encounter the surprising and fluid relationships between oral and written poetries than by experiencing the work of artists like bill bissett, Adeena Karasick, Catherine Kidd, Kaie Kellough and d'bi.young.anitaafrika, and I am so thrilled they are all part of this festival and conference. It's going to be a fabulous , fun night!"(T.L. Cowan, curator)

Cowan, an international writer/performer herself, served up this delectable feast. Cheekily in a blond wig like something hot off an Entertainment Tonight clip she introduced each artist with grace, awe and enthusiasm.

bill bissett stomped, rattled & breathlessly intoned his works ... the lively trickster/fool bissett disarms even the most closed heart with streams of playpun ... dissolving into radiant sound subversion ... enticing an imaginative mystical dance ... we envision polar bears on yonge street & sway mesmerized to the soundings from large print laminated pages of ths is erth thees ar peopul ... a perpetual unfolding of langwage n desire... the splendid wide mythical world incarnate ... listening to a dialogue between the wise man & the simpleton ...

Earlier in the day he and Adeena Karasick had simulated a two person radio show: "SUBLINGUAL BOUCHE". They were a pair of small salivary glands beneath the tongue stimulating a passion sometimes sexually charged other times breath aspirations of innocence but always libidinous - union fusion [Sublingual/ Amuse Bouche: Tasty Treats for the Mouth (Talonbooks 2009)] interplay ...

Alone behind the podium Adeena chewed at the ranula... that cyctic war swelling in our midst ... jubilant concentrated energy ... a miraculous paradoxical voice all rich/nasel/nuanced/spirited ... sharp sharp sharp into brilliance ... language extraordinarily 'HIJACK'ed ... multi-fracturing into a persona myriad ... deftly firing synapses of fable fabrication ... high low popular academic dark beamed into a compact delight ... perhaps only in my vision for a moment a hasidic prophet flickered shrewd Kabalsitic wisdom ...

The evening bubbled through zany zanny zanni Catherine Kidd ... to the slow bopping rhythms of Kaie Kellough ... his smooth hypnotic vibe exploring the gentle aspects of identity ... spoken word on reggae/blues ... generated "to dub out the unconsciousness out of people head, and to dub in consciousness"- Oku Onuora ... a groove Lettricity ... say it again real slow Lettricity (Bop to authors Bop to bottom Bop to Kaie) ...

... at the end ... the riveting word warrior d'bi.young.anitafrika ... a simple spin & we are entwined in blood.claat ... stalking the audience eyes wide ... crouching as if ready to leap we surrender to the blood ferocity ... a magnificent story-teller allowing us to presence the ancient oral tradition ... gender class race oppression violence ... at the end ... a tender smile ...

Yes smile! Five Artists sharing ... inviting us to string it all together ... precious gems beaded to wear on the heart ... a heartlace ... thank you.

If one could have been anywhere that night nowhere would have been more tantalizing out of world than the Oak Room in Saskatoon. Praise the artist and their gifts.

- See: Artists Festival

:: note :: ... so much to explore ... each artist moving inspheres beyond wor(l)ds ... deep gratitude to the organizers ... inaccuracies may exist ...

wz 1 of thoz polar bear timez
u no all north outside & shimmern inside
n i wz 2 listn 2 bill bissett
excellent wild i thot

standing 4 tickets he came up behind me
not sure sew askd who he wz
jimmy
disappointd i handshaked
later he wz at the front
so the trikster foold me again

he 8 n sang n breethd into th mic
buzzd terribul like it didn't recogniz hm
4 a moment we wer all pssssd
then were kompleetlee happee

invited bill & Adeena to the Temple
frends 4 over 20 yrs talkn n konnekting 2gethr
while reading they merg in2 each othr nicelee
i wz reelee xcited

th dreem was 2 dew blew treez
n share n love n help
b ing creeativ interests peopul
2 meet them freely n prsonal

n we did

- See: scenik narratif

:: note :: ... bill bissett and Adeena Karasick were in Saskatoon for a Festival ... even though they knew nothing of me they found time to visit & share their generous spirits ... am forever grateful ...

- See: Tools

:: note :: ... word picture generated by wordle ... larger here ...

when there is nothing ... when articulating the necessity of witnessing a theater act i often choose the phrase "art as nourishment" ... the bread of life ... yet this metaphor of consumption is problematic ... presencing a performance is to encounter a flow/current/process/energy (dancingness) which moves the "I" ... the self by meeting the self breaks down the existential trap of being human ... the personal is stripped bare ... & in the barrenness a lively silent stillness shines (aura) ... there is something ... there is something unutterable ... when there is something theater is presencing dancingness aura ...

- See: Theater

:: note :: ... thinking about a question regarding feeling left after a performance ...

that which knaws at the soul sleeps alone
lives unseen under bleeding nail bitten fingers
if the heart is delicate the invisible mending is always visible
scar white despair scabs pulsing a self mutilation
nerve ends screaming "I" stripped down to self suspicious whispers
keep a journal obsessively & fall asleep
forget the pain

- See: Poetry

:: note :: ... that time of year ...