| |
| Poetry
by Rachel Dacus |
Listen
to Samples:
A
Pot of Humuhumunukunukuapua'a
Morning
Mnemonic
Ghazal
of White
Dog
Running (Song)
"These carefully-crafted meditations are framed by well-chosen music and sound-effects to create a constantly changing aural landscape. The poet is joined by readers David Dacus, Dana Evans, Ken Hastings and Leslie Linn, and singer Mary Shepard (who collaborated with Rachel to set several of her poems to music) for a program as varied and refreshing as summer weather." -- Searchlight Books
POEMS FROM
A GOD YOU CAN DANCEAt the Thousand Cranes Auto Repair
The women were making, the men waiting in the room
provided. Folding a square piece of gold,
the Japanese woman looked up from behind
her sunglasses and said: A thousand paper cranes.
For a party. For luck. The men's eyes fuzzed and snapped:
NO TALKING to strangers during auto repair.
A woman with a fan of years on her forehead
moved across the silence-hissing space
to sit beside the folder, pleating the room.
Another question launched the tale of the last
thousand cranes: made at the bedside of a dying
grandmother (hers? mine? -- this woman might appear
someday at your bed -- for luck, she would say).
Everyone was listening openly now. Their necks leaned
in parallel. Feet dropping down, they flew
on story currents and watched being after being
take shape and rise from luck-bending,
blind invention's darting, dark skinned fingers.First published in Stirring (http://sundress.net/stirring)
Ghazal of White
Flare of apple scent, ancient caress. A wind arose within
and silently called me home to the White
Rose within.Silence is music's white heart. Through its blaze pass all sounds,
returning to the Beloved's gaze
that grows within.Sunlight animates cell and eye, but cannot match
the gold that leaped from His touch and
now glows within.I'm after the whiteness that winnows essence from pith,
a mysterious wind of love
that blows within.Give up your white lies. We are fish in an ocean of God.
Why whisper, when every thought
He knows within?White music emerges from His word. Its timbre
strikes my heart awake after its age-old
doze within.Rose of Silence, You are the fulcrum of absence
and fullness, the perfect balance one rarely
knows within.White blossom, your offering is a divine hint
of the flowering that, petal by petal,
unfolds within.Seeker, bleach your veils. Unthread your wishes and put your hand
in God's. As desire dies, its gold marrow
is disclosed within.First published in Many Mountains Moving
The Performers:
Rachel Dacus, David Dacus, Dana Evans, Ken Hastings, Leslie Linn,
Mary Shepard
Songs Written & Performed by Mary Shepard * Lyrics by Rachel Dacus & Mary Shepard
Lyrics for "Last Night" from a Hafiz poem based on a translation by Farhad Shafa
Produced by David Dacus
Music for Poems: Gary Leuenberger
Additional Music & Percussion: Christopher Krotky & John Alevizakis
Song Accompaniments by Gary Leuenberger & Robert Powell
Recorded by Gary Leuenberger, Enchanter Music Productions
Mixing and Mastering by Christopher Krotky, Atomic Tangerine Productions
Design by Sue Sandlin, Olde West * Design consultation by Sidney Davenport
Cover art: "My World View" by Mira M. White
Poems copyright Rachel Dacus, 2002
Songs copyright Mary Shepard & Rachel Dacus, 2002
Some of the poems first appeared in: Atlanta Review, Avatar Review, Bellowing Ark, Bitter Oleander, Coracle, Flyway, Many Mountains Moving, Rattapallax, Stirring, Astrophysicist's Tango Partner SpeaksWith loving thanks to Murshid Mackie & Murshida Conner