if . . .

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 ...

Storytellers Unite Traditional meets unconventional at eVOCative festival Ashleigh Mattern The StarPhoenix Monday, June 16, 2008 Saskatoon is storyteller central this summer as the city plays host to two of the industry's conferences and a festival of oral performance. Storytellers from across Canada and around the world will be coming to Saskatoon to attend the eVOCative festival and The Oral, the Written and Other Oral Media conference from June 19 to 21, and the Storytellers of Canada annual conference from July 2 to 6. While the conferences are fine-tuned to the interests of performers and academics working and creating in the field, both conferences have a little something for everyone. In the case of The Oral, the Written and Other Oral Media, main organizer Susan Gingell has also organized a festival of oral performance to complement the conference. Gingell said it was important to her to bring artists and academics together. "Too often (artists and academics) operate ...

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 elder...

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...

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 ...

Self Referential image - 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 ...