A word from the sponsers: news on The Westcountry Storytelling Festival this August bank holiday 27/28/29th August. The school will be there (possibly a Sat allnight telling of Parzival if the story winds are fragrant and persuasive enough.) The festival is chock full of talent...including the great Minnesota poet Timothy Young (vibrant new book HERDS OF BEARS SURROUND US soon out)and U.S. film maker Haydn Reiss bringing over his new documentary on William Stafford - a fantastic achievement with clips from Alice Walker, Michael Meade, Coleman Barks to name but three, entitled;
EVERY WAR HAS TWO LOSERS. Both Young and Reiss are part of the School of Myth tribal presence at the festival, and i am also planning to interview Robin Williamson, Hugh Lupton and others on the nature of myth and storytelling and get some general debate going. Chris Salisbury tells a great story from The Mabinogian, so please badger him for it. It will be a wonderful, exceptional festival. Here's some Stafford:
A Ritual To Read To Each Other
If you don't know the kind of person I am
and I don't know the kind of person you are
a pattern that others made may prevail in the world
and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.
For there is many a small betrayal in the mind,
a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break
sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood
storming out to play through the broken dyke.
And as elephants parade holding each elephant's tail,
but if one wanders the circus won't find the park,
I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty
to know what occurs but not recognize the fact.
And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy,
a remote important region in all who talk:
though we could fool each other, we should consider--
lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.
For it is important that awake people be awake,
or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;
the signals we give--yes or no, or maybe--
should be clear: the darkness around us is deep
Stafford poems sometimes take a little work, but they are well worth the labour
Ok-here's the commercial:
We thought you might like a reminder that Embercombe is hosting the Westcountry Storytelling Festival this summer (Bank Holiday weekend 27/28/29 August) and that if you book your tickets before Friday 30th April you get a 10% discount on all tickets.
Visit the website http://www.weststoryfest.co.uk/ where you can pay on-line using Paypal, credit or debit card or download a booking form and send it with a cheque.The website is packed with details of this exciting and unique event featuring top UK storytellers Jan Blake, Hugh Lupton & Robin Williamson and 30 other local, national and international stars of the storytelling world. This is a family-friendly weekend camp and Festival with activities for all ages; a solar powered stage; indoor and outdoor venues; activities on the lake; giant puppets; workshops; film-making and lots more, in a weekend of Stories for Change - marrying song, story and sustainability.
If you know a good place near you to display some flyers, please let Sue know at sue@embercombe.co.uk or telephone 01647 252983.
I'll finish with something by Bly on letters:
Robert Bly: Donald Hall and I have been sending poems back and forth twice a week for forty years. At one time, we had a 48-hour rule: the other had to answer within 48 hours. My generation did a lot with letters. Galway Kinnell and Louis Simpson and Don and I and James Wright would often send five- and six-page typed letters commenting on and arguing with each others' poems. I'm amazed we had the time for that. Tranströmer and I exchanged hundreds of letters. The gist of it is that no one writes alone: One needs a community.
See you soon,
Martin
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