River's Song: A Poem
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About this ebook
Written as an homage to “The Thunder, Perfect Mind” but in the rhyming, indomitable voice of a modern urban river, this long narrative poem portrays the passion, plight, and ultimate triumph of nature.
Industrialism has poisoned and killed many lakes and rivers. Their stories are similar. Many have been polluted to the point of catching fire. But this is the unique voice of the Chicago River. Sometimes raging, sometimes sobbing, frequently serene, this Voice of the Great Goddess, speaking in her River aspect, flows slowly on, always different, always the same.
Calliope Braintree loves her River, and this “environmentally lyrical”...”important poetic piece” is her heart-wrenching tribute to it. Despite River’s own long history of abuse, she absorbed Calliope's pain and self-loathing, enabling her to recover and become her Real Self: a writer! The protagonist of “To Hear the Rest More Clearly” comes to life, stepping off the page to write this, which, in turn, became the basis for her tour de force of anger and forgiveness, “Killing Joe Sabazius.” For Calliope, Art imitates Life and Life imitates Art in equal measure. Compellingly multi-layered and self-reflexive, the series explores rape culture from both the personal and planetary perspective; and this poem is the point on which it all balances. A part of both novels, “River’s Song” stands very much on its own.
Calliope Braintree
You wanna know what I am?I'm a super-heroine!A Warrior!Ha ha!OK. It's true. I don't actually do battle with anything outside my own head. But that's pretty revolutionary if you think about it. You see, I have certain qualities that enable me to break through the mental conditioning that's imposed on us by society...qualities most people have had "educated" out of them.I've learned to hear the silenced voices of Nature. And I'll tell you what. It was exactly the same as FINALLY learning to hear my own poor stifled voice. Seriously.I was invisible. Ignored. Dismissed. Treated like a pile of garbage. And look at me now! A published author!I bet you could become your Real Self too. Read my books for a bit of inspiration, then connect with me on Facebook. We'll talk!
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River's Song - Calliope Braintree
River’s Song
Calliope Braintree
Published by Blue Bus Books
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2014 Anne V. Pyterek
ISBN 978-0-9914100-1-9
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Table of Contents
River’s Song
Acknowledgements
More Acknowledgements
River’s Song
By
Calliope Braintree
for you,
beloved, sluggish little creek
I am the Atoms and the Space in between,
the Unmanifested heard, felt, smelt, tasted and seen
I am Anger
and Forgiveness
all in one stream.
For I am the Source,
I am the Dream…
I am the scent of holy things,
the sound of shadowy, unseen wings…
ominous…
foretelling black endarkenings.
I flow slowly, ever to the Sea.
I am Wildness,
Authenticity.
I am Coyote’s shrewd yellow eyes,
whose maniacal laughter mostly belies
this shadowy substance of things.
Both Senseless and Wise,
I am love-drenched thighs…
I am meandering your rememberings,
I am meandering your lies.
I am Heron’s tears
through the round of years
I am the audacity of grief.
And the relief of grief,
be it long, be it brief
is what incubates Understanding.
I am the Understanding of a Leaf
My hopes and My fears, all lost to a thief.
So… your misunderstanding
domineers
Understanding’s long meanderings
through this shadowy
substance
of things.
I am the lust of a flower,
all fragrance, all