Saturday, April 09, 2011
poem by Iris Dunkle
Her Voice Grabbed Me So Hard I Almost Remembered Who I Was
for Sarah Ballard Smith (Last Native Speaker of Bodega Miwok)
Her voice is reel-to-reel crackling, earthbound, but all air.
Her voice reflects back like the cool, pearled shells of abalone.
Her voice stitched stories out of lightning and rain clouds.
Her voice collected the rains for fear of the drought.
Her voice was combed free of the trouble it must have contained.
Her voice could gather salt from the sea, leech acorns and smooth clamshells
into tiny, white beads.
Her voice was annotated with this currency.
Her voice skimmed the cool, shallow depths of Bodega Bay.
Her voice was quick as a baby tiger shark dodging predators, darting from
the sway of kelp leaf to kelp leaf.
Her voice contains the tiny blue stars of forget-me-nots and the nervous
beauty of quails.
Her voice still lingers in the grey combed clouds that stretch across the
too, blue above the restless sea.
- Iris Dunkle
This beautiful poem by Iris Dunkle reminds us of the power of voice. We experience this power in many ways--mantra, kirtan, chanting, singing, spoken poetry, the voices of others. Some of these forms date back before there was printing, or musical instruments, or written language. At that time people relied on human voice alone to induce trance states and honor the gods. In some societies the poet was considered to be a priest with special connection to the divine.
We can experience some of this power by listening (or performing) chant or song. Poetry becomes ever more powerful when it is spoken (for it derives from sacred oral tradition.) When you read Rumi or Mary Oliver, say the words aloud. If you can, listen to such CD's as The Chord of Love (hard to find, but worth it) with Ram Das saying sacred poetry, or the kirtan of Diana Rogers, or Krishna Das singing sacred verse.
Poetry began as the recital of sacred words, often as part of ritual or ceremony. It still retains such power if you approach it in the right way, for it (if it is the right kind) can awaken the deep sacred energies and perhaps lead to bliss.
