September 24, 7 p.m.


RC Wilson & Kirk Lumpkin  


at MOTR

​RC WILSON poet and poetry reading organizer, lives in Kent Ohio.  His poems often reflect his interest in our rust belt heritage here in Ohio, and in the impact of that heritage on nature.  In the past several years he has organized regional poetry gatherings focused on environmental features, then he has edited anthologies of the poems submitted for these events.  In June, 2019, the focus was the Cuyahoga River, 50 years after it last caught fire in Cleveland, with the resulting reading and book titled, Resurrection River Poems.  2018's gathering produced, Lake Effect Poetry, with poets from all along the Lake Erie shore.  RC, and other Kent poets, can be heard monthly, usually on a Friday, at Last Exit Bookstore and Coffee House in downtown Kent Ohio.  If you travel that way, look for readings on the "Last Exit Books Open Poetry Reading" Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/275521006684052/ ) 

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Seek No Asylum Here
 
King Herod was paranoid.
He was willing to kill ALL the babies
if it managed to deliver him
from this one infant usurper
but the infant had an ace back
in the form of an angel
“FLEE!” says the angel
and they flew
Down the road to Egypt…
 
But Egypt had a strict policy
“NO REFUGEES! Asylum seekers need not apply!"
The babe was turned back
and Herod’s soldiers dispatched him
(along with the rest of the innocents)
and thus
no sermon on any mount
no loaves or fishes
no risen Lazarus
no twelve disciples
No last supper
just daily supper
day after day
supper.
 
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Rhythm and Blues
 
When God said, “Let there be light..”
What if he said it with drums?
Tablas, a djembe, talking drums?
Not much need for a material universe
Without rhythm
 
Maybe, before the big bang  
There was a tone
an om, a root, a drone
You could call it silence, I suppose
there being no space and all
but a feeling? 
 
No, start again
We’ll need TWO tones and
three would be better
It’s not the music of the SPHERE, you need SPHERES
A note can’t be blue without interval
Not sweet, not sour, its sweet AND sour!
 
Maybe before the big bang
was a holy trinity of tones
Just waiting for God
Just waiting AS God
God the triad
Heart of God
Mind of God
Ear of God
 
When God said, “Let there be light”
he said it with drums
and heard that it was good
 

 

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​​KIRK LUMPKIN is a poet, spoken word & performance artist, and environmental activist. Since moving to Mendocino County in 2016 he has become a California state certified Naturalist, a singer in the Emandal Chorale, a member of the Steering Committee of the Friends of Outlet Creek, and a Board member of the Willits Environmental Center. Before moving here he worked at the Ecology Center in Berkeley for over 20 years and was according to the Bay Area Poets Seasonal Review: “ . . . an important part of the Bay Area (and beyond) poetry scene for years, hosting readings in San Francisco and Berkeley, helping to facilitate the Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival [with Poetry Flash & former U.S. Poet Laureate, Robert Hass], and hosting open mikes at Burning Man.…” He has most recently been published in Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry of California.

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At My House   
 
The past is screaming from the basement
          telling me it knows the score
While I’m wrestling with the present
          in a tangle on the floor
So I can’t let in the future
          knocking loudly on the door
Who I know has come to ask for
          more than I ever gave before

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The Ark of the Heart
 
In the ark of the heart
          all the extinct animals
          secretly live
          and burn with a desire
          calling us to live
          as if their lives
          had mattered.
For deep in our genetic core
          they still have a stake
          in our future.
For us to live for them,
          for even a moment,
          would leave behind
          our aching egos.
And then we might find
          each carries inside
          the ark of the heart
          holding the seeds
          of a promised land
          able to grow abundant fruit trees
                   in the middle of a great garden,
                   a wilderness,
                   city,
                   or wasteland.
 
All that is lost
          cannot be restored
          but in the ark of the heart
          seeds of fire await
                   to be rekindled
                   with the light
                   that is the life
                   of all beings.
 
 

 

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Launched by poets Mark Flanigan and Jim Palmarini in 2014, Word of Mouth  was inspired by the late Cincinnati poet Aralee Strange. Poets of all stripes are welcome to show up, listen, and mouth off.

MOTR Pub, 1345 Main Street, Cincinnati