May all be well with anyone who happens upon this page… and may your everyday be a giving of thanks, a celebration of living. “Wellalioq” — Mik’maq for gratitude to all the directions.

And a poem in honor of one of the many ways Native folks have survived on this continent:

*****

“Land Preservation”

i.
It’s the way the mountains move
through my bones       Home:
many miles

from here

carried clear in my heart
Everywhere I am
Earth, our Great Mother,
holds the geography
of my body
reciprocally.

ii.
It’s the Indian women
Susan Deer heard about:
Indigenous Ancestors
who decided on marrying
white settlers - the richest ones -
that they might
keep some hold
of sacred ground.

How devastating.
How intelligent.

*****

May joy & laughter touch you deeply.

All Love,

e*

I am again honored to share that several of my poems will be included in the upcoming Spring 2011 edition of Yellow Medicine Review. Stay tuned (here or on the YMR website) if you would like to know when it will be available.

Love & Blessings to all,

em*

What a poor job I have done keeping this updated! If there is anyone still here… perhaps you’ll understand how the Trees, the Stones, the Creek, the Animal relations outside my door call to me more than the computer most days.

Life flows forward… perhaps another post soon… for now, a link to where Five of my Poems have just been included in a marvelous collection — what an honor.

Travis Hedge Coke’s Future Earth Magazine, volume four, is on the topic of Celebrations. Click *here* to download.

Love & Blessings to all,

e*

upcoming reading:

Saturday evening Brûlée returns to the stage: November 14, at 8:00 PM at Mayorga Coffee Factory in Silver Spring. venu details: 8040 Georgia Avenue; 301.562.9090.

( http://www.awbmusic.com/brulee/ )

em jollie, her friend Anne Dykers, and her friend Sheila Walsh promise to provide a poetic set-break. we’ll be honored if you join us.

all love,

em

]]> http://emjollie.com/blog/em-emerges/feed http://emjollie.com/blog/equinox-poems-one-two http://emjollie.com/blog/equinox-poems-one-two#comments Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:41:18 +0000 Em http://emjollie.com/blog/?p=187

Equinox Poem for the Light

(photo from Montague, MA)

I just keep turning,
I just keep re-turning
to the ritual
of water -

holding out my hands as its shimmer

falls

always down

from the faucet the rocky mountain top
the sky

I dreamed
last night that Sister Flying Horse
and I were walking in an airport.
I don’t know where we’ve come from
or where we are about to go.
I do know we are happy,
surrounded by smiling faces.

What I mean to tell you
is that the ancestors left
the same way they came:
through the soles
of my feet back into the soil
and their own souls’
worlds. They left me in this world,
which I have chosen:

Most humans are sick with sleepiness.
And this is not Macondo. This is Turtle Island.
The Equinox is almost here again,
and we are learning to awaken
on Earth as she sleeps for a season.

This, this here, is a Sacred celebration
called real life. Life
requires flowers,
songs, flowing movement,
beautiful choreography,

pirouettes.
So I just keep turning,

I just keep re-turning
to the ritual of shining water -

letting my spirit climb

its rushing bubbling constancy
its reflections of light
into the Autumn sky
& back again to the solid ground.

*****

Equinox Poem for the Shadow

how much i see
how little i say

how much i say
how little i see

which is it?

yes,

and this –
this is what i was afraid of
that the beauty of the world would cut me
open
that my pain & my passion would wrestle
endlessly devoted angels

devotion: theirs or mine?

yes,

and my heart sings

even in the dark
your hand there next to me
glows with a faint light

how much i see
how little i say

your spirit has left its costume of skin
into another dreamworld
where are you now?

how much i say
how little i see

close my eyes

let my heart sing

the spring 2009 issue of yellow medicine review, guest-edited by Jimmy Santiago Baca, is now available at http://yellowmedicinereview.com/id13.html

gorgeous cover art, stunningly smart insides… includes many writers, & four poems by em.

all love,

ej

one of em’s poems (”A Neitzschean Critique of Wislawa Szymborksa’s ‘In Praise of Feeling Bad About Yourself’”) will appear in the next issue of Blue Earth Review. 

all love,

em

please come support the Kahn Institute’s event next Monday evening, April 6th at 7:00 PM in Graham Auditorium in the lower level of Smith College’s Hillyer Art Building. Joy Harjo, Mvskoke saxophonist & writer, will be sharing stories, songs, and poetry in an evening entitled “A Map to the Next World.” 

introductions by Jennifer Guglielmo, professor of history, & em jollie.

it would be lovely to see you all there.

two of em’s poems (”Climbing to the Stars” and “Celebrating the Day of Mourning”) & a photo are in the March 17th post of journalist Eric Schwartz’s frequently updated travel blog, found in the blogroll under “Thoughts on the Road” or by clicking here.

all love,

em

four of em’s poems (”Identity Politics,” “An Open Letter to Everyone Who Has Ever Asked Me Exactly How Indian I Am,” “Ice Storm,” and “Poets Creating Peace Zones”) have been accepted for publication in the Spring 2009 edition of Yellow Medicine Review which is scheduled for print in April of this year. 

all love,

em

all love,

 ej

hosted by Lori & Eli of Word in Westfield

6:30 signups

7:00 open-mic

feature set: em jollie

bring your words, bring your selves, or send a little prayer out if you can’t be there in person. i look forward to seeing everyone tonight!

all love,

em

]]> http://emjollie.com/blog/em-teapot-gallery-tonight/feed