What Black Elk Said, poem by R.T. Smith

WHAT BLACK ELK SAID
by R.T. Smith

It was in the Moon When the Cherries Turn Black.
We cut birch saplings,
packed our tipis on travois
and followed the Bison Wind to the banks of the Rosebud.
But that was not a good year.
The Arapahoes we called Blue Clouds
attacked our hunting parties under the Bitten Moon,
and the leaves fled early.
In that hungry winter some say the snow reached
the ponies’ withers. The elk were hard
to find, and many of our people forgot
to slit bone masks and went snowblind.
Some of the bands got lost for a while. Some died.
I think it was that winter when a medicine man
named Creeping came among us, curing
the snowblinds. He packed snow across their eyes
and sang the song from his dream.
Then he would blow on the backs of their heads
and sing hey hey hey hey, and they would see.
It was about the dragonfly
whose wings wear eyes that he sang,
for that was where he claimed his power lay.
We also spoke to the snow of dragonflies,
and soon the deep patches melted
and the hunters brought us fresh meat.
Creeping left one night on a pony drag.
Some say he was a man of much craziness,
and I thought so too, but the next summer
I had my vision of giants slanting down like arrows
from clouds. They sang the song of the elk
speaking with the sacred voice.
The next year was the good year.
A song was singing me. 

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“What Black Elk Said” is found in SPLIT THE LARK: Selected Poemsby R. T. Smith, available on Amazon.com.

 Image: “Dragonflies Moon” by Borealnz, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

What Black Elk Said, Poem by R.T. Smith

WHAT BLACK ELK SAID

by R.T. Smith

It was in the Moon When the Cherries Turn Black.

We cut birch saplings,

packed our tipis on travois

and followed the Bison Wind to the banks of the Rosebud.

But that was not a good year.

The Arapahoes we called Blue Clouds

attacked our hunting parties under the Bitten Moon,

and the leaves fled early.

In that hungry winter some say the snow reached

the ponies’ withers. The elk were hard

to find, and many of our people forgot

to slit bone masks and went snowblind.

Some of the bands got lost for a while. Some died.

I think it was that winter when a medicine man

named Creeping came among us, curing

the snowblinds. He packed snow across their eyes

and sang the song from his dream.

Then he would blow on the backs of their heads

and sing hey hey hey hey, and they would see.

It was about the dragonfly

whose wings wear eyes that he sang,

for that was where he claimed his power lay.

We also spoke to the snow of dragonflies,

and soon the deep patches melted

and the hunters brought us fresh meat.

Creeping left one night on a pony drag.

Some say he was a man of much craziness,

and I thought so too, but the next summer

I had my vision of giants slanting down like arrows

from clouds. They sang the song of the elk

speaking with the sacred voice.

The next year was the good year.

A song was singing me. 

###

“What Black Elk Said” is found in SPLIT THE LARK: Selected Poems by R. T. Smith, available on Amazon.com.

 Image: “Dragonflies Moon” by Borealnz, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Henry Miller & Brenda Venus

During the final four years of his life, Henry Miller wrote more than 1,500 love letters (over 4,000 pages!) to his muse, a beautiful Native American actress named Brenda Venus. Originally published by Morrow in 1986 — six years after Miller’s death — the voluminous correspondence was edited into an approximately 200-page book, with commentary by Venus. When it came out, the book received rave reviews, including a sensitive, insightful analysis by Noel Young in the L.A. Times (2/2/1986). Here is an excerpt:

Henry Miller’s death in 1980 brought an end to one of the most extraordinary romances ever conceived, coming as it did from the impassioned mind of a man nearly 90, admittedly a physical ruin, and the good graces of a young actress, aptly named Brenda Venus, in the prime of her life. For Miller, it was love at first sight, kindling an ardor that kept him alive for four more years. He did what he did best — he wrote; and he laid it all on the line in more than 1,000 letters from which this volume is drawn.

An ordinary man, blind in one eye and partially paralyzed, might have taken to bed and wasted away, but not Henry Miller. Instead, he fell hopelessly, shamelessly in love and spilled it out in letters to his dear Brenda, wallowing in a euphoria that lasted to his end. He worked himself into a lather, at least on paper, and lived for those Thursday nights when she appeared at his door, took him by his arm and drove him to dinner at his favorite Japanese restaurant in the Hollywood Hills. One stormy night, to spare him hobbling through the puddles in the parking lot, she simply picked him up and carried him upstairs to the entrance. He accepted this with aplomb and a jaunty smile.”

Dear, Dear Brenda by Henry Miller (with text by Brenda Venus, edited by Gerald S. Sindell with an introduction by Lawrence Durell) is available at Amazon.com here.

Find out more about the fascinating Brenda Venus at her website, brendavenus.com.