Super Moon Music and River Festival

http://supermoonfest.com/?page_id=30
Check-out the link. I have yet to post on this event, but Elkhorn City is hosting the Super Moon Music and River Festival. The event was created to fund the Elkhorn City Community Garden. We are working towards making Elkhorn City a self-sustained community. More information is provided in the Mission Statement (penned by your humble narrator). A big word of appreciation and support goes out to Jared Hamilton for his initiative and tenacity in getting this done!!! Compelled am I to also mention Tim Belcher. His constant encouragement and guidance to the promising talents of EC is a life-changing asset to the individuals, and a vital component of Elkhorn City's progress and enhancement. I speak for the crazy artist's when I say: Thanks Tim!

Mission

Super Moon Music and River Festival is an upcoming extravaganza! All the proceeds from the event go directly to the Elkhorn City Heritage Council, which has initiated work on the Elkhorn City Community Garden. We want to bring good people and good times to Elkhorn City, but the Garden is our ultimate dream.
Elkhorn City Community Garden is working towards becoming a non-profit organization—working thru the Heritage council—created to spearhead the revitalization campaign for Elkhorn City. It is our vision for Elkhorn City to become a self-sustaining community. We have taken the initiative to start a garden to provide locally grown, fresh, natural, high-quality produce for the Elkhorn City community. We believe that Mountain culture is deeply rooted in the soil, and that perhaps we have forgotten our true heritage. We want to bring fresh food into the community, and offer opportunities to those who desire a connection w/ their planet, to dig in the dirt and cultivate that very relationship. Grow local. Eat local. Think local.
As you can see, our sustainability initiative revolves around locality. Elkhorn City is that location which we seek to enrich, and bring back to the abundant, plentiful form which is only natural for this community. By enriching the lives of those in our community, we enrich the earth. Only by taking care of where you’re from can you have the clean conscience to move-on, and spread the sustainability initiative around the globe. Support the garden, improve your diet, enrich your community, and change your world!

Deviating From the Prompt Today--Heritage Demands It!!

From http://www.napowrimo.net/ : And now our (totally optional) prompt. I’m a sucker for a good mystery novel, especially the hard-boiled noir novels of the thirties and forties. There’s always a two-timing blonde, a city that keeps its secrets, and stuck in the middle, a man who just can’t help but rabbit after truth. Today I challenge you write a poem inspired by noir — it could be in the voice of a detective, or unravel a mystery, or just describe the long shadows of the skyscrapers in the ever-swirling smog.
~

I'll unravel a mystery alright! Here's some more content for the Appalachian Heritage series I've been posting. The only mystery to me is why we still allow our home to be ransacked by corporate figure-heads. Perhaps we don't realize what is right before our eyes. I intend to elucidate the truth, and really all I have to do is show our area for what it is. Be patient. Breathe. Slow down. Don't rush thru Life--you might miss something positively life-changing!

Heritage
Appreciate the emerald flow.
Next time you think about power,
remember that the river does not stop.

You sleep.
You nap.
You complain about waking-up for work,
about not having sex often enough,
or not having food in your belly--
at least you did eat today.

On the other hand,
the river never utters a word
of regret, or lamentation.

It rages thru the
limestone canyon
displaying its beauty and power
for all eyes to witness.

The true Appalachian mountaineer
is more than thrilled
to sit on a stone, or a log--
burn a bowl, and 
watch the river roll.

Life truly can be this simple.
It is what you make of it.
I know we have valuable tech-tools to use,
but we can't get sucked-in.

Remembering our roots
will bring happiness
once we realize, frankly,
we have too much shit we don't need.

It is partly a story of greed.
Accumulating things.
Attempting to quench that deep thirst
in the hollow.

I can tell you, friend, 
what will fulfill you.
At least in a roundabout way--
It starts w/ Family.

Now,
listen carefully...
The gnawing will end
when you succeed in
pursuing your Dreams.

For me, it is writing.
There's no amount of money,
or advanced gadgetry
that could make me happy
if I'm not writing.

I encourage exploration--
Discover what thrills you!

 Maybe it is 
building a boat.
Maybe it is
building a sandcastle--

Pursue it!

Don't listen to anybody
who tells you it is stupid.

You have one chance to 
authenticate your life.
Do it right, and
don't listen to them.

Appalachian Heritage 
springs from a people
who were bold enough
to blaze their own trail.

Sure there are obstacles
along the way.
But nothing can overcome
a full heart
& willful Mind.

--Written live, river-side


I plant my heart in Mtn. soil--
rich fruit blooms.

I loosen my Mind
to the river-tide--
smooth thoughts flow--

Another post in the Heritage series...

I know plenty of boys who think they’ve gotta mine coal.

Cause their daddy did, and his daddy did, and his before him.

But once you go so far back, the Daddy of authentic Appalachia

Would wring all their necks for raping the mountains.

Coal is part of our heritage—as a tragedy!

We can’t honestly be foolish enough to believe

That the first mountaineers

Dug coal to support their family!

These mountains were the Promise Land—

Plentiful, fertile, and rich

W/ wild game, herbs, roots, fruits, and veggies.

Then the mad-men came round,

Taking advantage of our hospitality.

You wanna know what heritage means

To real mountain people?

Chasing the goddamn crook off your porch w/ a shotgun!

And then the news media has its scandal, right?

Calling us uneducated, backwoods, po-dunk, violent retards.

And the people watching safely at home,

Don’t know that the man who came to the door

Was trying to scheme his way into buying our land

To pillage it and prosper, while we broke our back working.

I hate the cowardice of knaves!

We have to be vigilant!

We should be angry!

To Hell w/ our national media portrayal!

I’m gonna give the truth,

Raw as corn whisky,

And if you don’t like it

Bite my fucking bullet!

I’m tired of the calumny spread

About this pristine land!

Adventure-seekers and artistic types

Will be flourishing!

If only we can rid ourselves

Of false heritage.

Christ and coal be damned!

If I can help it.

Open-up to Buddha, Shiva, Zeus—

Who the fuck ever—it doesn’t matter.

Get beyond your rigid perspective,

And become aware of the vast possibilities on this planet.

Courage is our heritage. Strength and self-reliance.

How about we mine those principles for a gem?

Heritage

Heritage

It must be an election year—

They are working on the roads.

The rest of the time

They forget about Mtn. folk.                                               

They know how passionate we are

When we rally for a cause—

I reckon some stuffed-turkey politician

Is lookin’ to secure some votes!

Only when they need us

Do they call.

Otherwise they sit back

With smug-rotten stares

Viewing us as rednecks

Who run barefoot thru the woods…

                                Well…

                                                What’s wrong with that?

We want a skin-to-dirt connection

With our earth.

Keep pursuing the hollow vacuum

Of ritzy gold watches

Of exquisite automobiles

Packaged with the most luxurious technologies—

Your Italian silk suit is fine!

I’d be surprised

If it wasn’t worth more coin

Than my entire wardrobe

Would it shock you to learn

That I don’t care?

~

I'll re-visit this one soon and add more content, but I just wanted to publish it and get the message out there.

This Heart Is Affixed To A Dying Animal

http://www.napowrimo.net/ Day Eight

"Ottava Rima for the eighth"

an "eight-line stanza of iambic pentameter, with a rhyme scheme of a-b-a-b-a-b-c-c"

This Heart Is Affixed To A Dying Animal

I wake-up in the morning and open the blinds—

I wonder why my whole world is gray.

There’s sad and sullen paint smeared across the sky.

I haven’t seen blue skies for days.

Death, O Death, I want to feel Light

clean my skin before it's too late.

This ol Heart means most to me,

but it must die before I'm free.

He Mines For Material Gain

From http://www.napowrimo.net/ :

 I challenge you to write a poem in which each line except the last takes the form of a single, declarative sentence. Then, the final line should take the form of a question. With any luck, this will result in poems that have a sort of driving, reportorial tone, but with a powerful rhetorical finish.

He Mines For Material Gain
He washes his truck w/ his coal-mining pants on.
His pride in the job is more sparkling than the truck.
He's got a bald head and sleek shades.
The sun of Illumination shines on me today.
Does he know he's being played?

What Is A Hippie?

At first glance, you may think happy-go-lucky, peace and love. You may think lazy bum. And of course this matter depends upon your perspective. But what I want to get to the heart of here, is why the word hippie or hippy, is now a word w/o value.
In the 1960's, a definite counter-culture sprouted like a powerful flower in America. Enlightened people carried their hearts on their sleeve, because they had hope in their Mind. There was a realization among the youth, that the family values they were taught growing-up were incredibly misguided attempts--by the elders of church and state--to control thought. The CIA administered LSD to unwitting citizens on the streets of Haight-Ashbury district, heinously experimenting w/ mind-control. Some unspeakably vile force wanted to uproot the flower--no matter the poison it took! The good Dr. Thompson poetically meditated his own vision of the cresting wave which rolled back.
That's all in the past. There is nothing we can change about it. We can repair the future world by becoming aware of our responsibility today! And why would we not think beyond ourselves? Why would we be so foolishly selfish and Mindless? Awareness is the key to unlocking our Destiny!
Perhaps I am the fool, only time will tell. In the mean time, I believe in optimism. I believe in the potential of the Brain. We have dis-ease in our Consciousness. It's labels learned from TV and magazines. What does that symbol mean? What is a hippie?
If a male is long-haired, he's a hippie. Or so goes the mentality you find in most popular media. It is an easy scapegoat. If you stare into the eyes of the Unknown, just call him a hippie and your ego might not shatter! Does it thirst for comfort? Will you protect it from disillusion, even if it means denying the one-lifetime chance of experience? I know many of you are sarcastic bastards, and some of you are just plain bastards. And you will hurl the hippie's at me for jokes, or because you're fucking mindless, but all is in good humor. We are all allowed to form Perspective. Some of us choose to create elaborate mosaics of our experience, and draw from the well of diversity. Get your water from the common stagnant pond!--I'll drink from the sanguine flow.
I spent the majority of my formative years angry. Angry at the state of the world, at the hypocrisy I found in piety. I carried the burden of hatred around on my shoulders--some part of me felt like Atlas, felt compelled to stabilize the world. For all its noble intention, this type of behavior has driven me into the dirt of depression at times. Still, at other times, I have been manic w/ the zeal of ecstasy! But hatred is too heavy. Those who believe they are tough don't understand how hatred ravages their Body w/ stress, and deludes their Mind from clarity.
Growing my hair became a physical representation of my spiritual growth. And while some will scoff at spirituality, there is something inside them that they have not found. Perhaps they are afraid they will find Peace and Love, and their comfortable infrastructure will collapse. But I tell you now--when you sit amongst the rubble of your old selfish skins, now torn to bits--peace and freedom will assuage you. Let go of the hatred and set yourself free. You think it fuels you. You think you are powerless w/o it. This is not true. Hatred makes your Mind opaque. It weighs you down, and keeps you from spreading your wings.
I am not a hippie. The word means nothing now. Words like hippie and God are de-valuing decade after decade. And who assigns value to words? Humans. Who rapes and ravages the meaning of our highest and most halcyon values? Humans. Likewise--who can triumph in the face of the most daunting odds? Humans!  But I see humans w/ the blood of God on their hands, and they have no idea. They just adorn the name God, like it is a badge to wear to notify other humans of how cool and righteous you are. Their meager Mind cannot formulate a concept of the profundity of God! 
Look: if you think it is cool to be a hippie, you probably have no idea what the counter-culture revolution actually meant to this country. If you think hippie means filthy lazy bum who doesn't want to work for his or her own share, you probably need to stop watching TV and journey inside what Brain you have left. As far as mind-control is concerned, become aware of the media you ingest. What you put in is what you get back--no wonder America is rampant w/ mediocrity!
Loud and clear: Hippie is Dead!