I dreamed of thunder beings

I dreamed of thunder beings

striking metal with prayer and seeing

conquistadores flee from Quetzalcoatl.

Awakening I choked on last night’s Coke

and croaked “Hell” from Marlboro’s smell

stuck in my throat.

For every time I failed to speak truth to power

I feel my tongue deaden, my song grow leaden.

For every capitulation to comfort I have taken

I feel my full belly bloat with my craven spirit wake

and

the whole world get more mesmerized by the supersize smiley prize

while we forget how to sing for joy,

how to sob for grief…

as we find no relief in the toys we thieve

as we forget to craft magic from the tragic

and

So we dance, pray and fight.

10/22/16 – Oakland, reflecting on time at Standing Rock

future faster future faster

Now I mistake distant train whistle howls

for the drone of a cell phone on silent.

But I know I’m alone – my machines asleep and charging.

It once was a dream to have such powerful things: a seductive spell

our runaway trains sang,

promising future faster future faster—

Now we dream: the things break down,

then, ride us, each alone, and together we devour our home.

The world’s deep unknown

sings like a stone,

flattened into palm-sized screens.

Voices & Visions of Indigenous Terra Madre from The Cultural Conservancy
One of my most recent videos.

Indigenous Terra Madre is the gathering of indigenous communities and supporters that form part of the Slow Food movement. In November of 2015, representatives of 148 tribes from 58 countries gathered in Shillong, Khasiland, Meghalaya, India, to share information, strategies and resources around indigenous food and biocultural diversity. This video shares some of their voices and visions.

Produced by The Cultural Conservancy, the Christensen Fund, and the Swift Foundation.

Braiding the Sacred / Trenzando lo sagrado

Braiding the Sacred - Trenzando lo sagrado from The Cultural Conservancy on Vimeo.

Braiding the Sacred is a network of traditional indigenous corn producers from cultures of maize, sharing resources, information, experiences and seeds. This video emerged from the network throughout 2016 and highlights producers from the following communities: Onondaga, Mohawk, Seneca, Kawaik (Laguna Pueblo), Tesuque Pueblo, Quechua, Diné (Navajo).

Support this work and get involved:
www.voicesofmaiz.org
www.nativeland.org

True story:

On my way today to fly away

to a summit on a mountain of fire

a retired rabbi gave me my taxi ride

saying it was chosen destiny for us to speak...

I mentioned how we're all up shit creek

without our field commander

only a commander and thief

assaulting us with fear + hate

in the place of good grief.

He glanced in the rearview mirror

then looked forward, clearer than clergy,

and praised the power of crisis in emergency,

pushing progress through complacency,

birthing rosebush seeds of fecal flame.

He told me how the Cheyenne named

the two wolves that live inside us,

one good, one bad—the one we feed rides us.

How with deep-dark festering disease pests,

only when they leave their nests can we stomp,

clean, find blessed rest.

I said yes, let's ring these liberty bells like holy hell:

let the cracks swell, let light and thundering sound

quake and cleanse forgotten, rotten ground.

As he helped me unload my baggage

he reminded me to carry my ancestors

in my heart, not on my shoulders, in my fist or

projecting perfection's lists on their homes

built in the midst of howling history.

On parting we agreed to greet

the growing gifts of the Shekhinah,

the divine feminine on the rise.

We will gift her prized milk

to the good wolf in us and in our folk,

and in our enemies until they're filled.

Mni Wiconi

Prayer stronger than metal

moves us to dance defiance:

we will not be still as they spill blood and oil

in our water and soil


Hope hotter than flame

ignites our pain:

trauma truth becomes real again

as it's channeled to light

transcending night through fight


Love vital as water

gives peace to our power:

flowing from long-gone grandmothers and fathers

through us to the waiting grandsons and daughters,

we provide these bodies, these lives

so the water of life may thrive

Ha' Agua Water Tz'itz

Ha' Agua Water Tz'itz from The Cultural Conservancy on Vimeo.

Ha' Agua Water Tz'itz is a video-poem—a poetic documentary—created by the Yakanal indigenous youth cultural exchange and The Cultural Conservancy. Water flows throughout our lives, connecting us in our diversity, and together we send ha', agua, water, tz'itz our gratitude, praise, apologies, and prayers. With these images, sounds, words and feelings we hope to connect ourselves more deeply to each other and to the indigeneity that roots us all in our lands by drawing from, and giving back to, the flow that connects us all. 

Ha' Agua Water Tz'itz es un vídeo poesía—un documental poético—creado por el Intercambio cultural de jóvenes indígenas de las Américas Yakanal y The Cultural Conservancy. El agua fluye por nuestras vidas conectándonos en nuestra diversidad. Juntos, enviamos al agua, ha’, water, tz’itz nuestra gratitud, alabo, disculpas y oraciones. A través de estas imágenes, sonidos, palabras y sentimientos, esperamos que podamos conectarnos más profundamente unos con otros y con las raíces autóctonas que nos asienta en nuestras tierras, tomando y devolviendo todo lo que fluye y nos une.

Walls

Chaco Canyon:

Canyon de Chelly:

Bodh Gaya:

Cycles of Growth

various models of growth based on natural cycles.  

Nautilus - exponential

Ojibwe medicine wheel

Learning Cycle - Coyote's Guide to Nature Mentoring, Jon Young et al

The Work that Reconnects - Joanna Macy 

Ecosoulcentric model of development - Bill Plotkin

Bagua from the Chinese tradition

Goddess, let me worship

your eyes of sky, their infinite space expanding beyond,

propelling me on waves of sensuous vision,

purifying me with their soft rhythm

of here, now, here, now, here, now...

your touch of fire, as it turns my skin incandescent

and burns away my consciousness of things-as-I-know-them,

so that I may better feel

this Earth moving under (and in) me...

your smile of sighs, its release of long-held breath,

of long-felt and long-yearning good will given freely,

and in the giving, joy, giddy divine generosity

madly multiplying hope beyond reason...

your open arms, able to receive and soften my so-often untrammeled energy,

able to anchor through Center-aligned spine

and Earth-rooted feet that not only know where they stand,

but also feel it, massage it...

Goddess, let me worship

our loving encounter

Nourishing the Body, Honoring the Land from The Cultural Conservancy on Vimeo.