The River Rolls In Solemn Majesty

John Coltrane: My Favorite Things

On starting,
we come at once
to difficult rapids
and falls, that,
in many places,
are more abrupt
than in any
of the canyons
through which
we have passed.
From morning until noon,
the course of the river
is to the west.
The scenery is grand,
with rapids and falls below,
and walls above,
beset with crags
and pinnacles.
Just at noon
we wheel again
to the south,
and go into camp for dinner.

While the cook
is preparing it,
Bradley, Sumner
and myself
go into a side canyon
that comes in at this point.
We enter through
a very narrow passage,
having to wade along
the course of
a little stream
until a cascade
interrupts our progress.
Then we climb to the right,
for a hundred feet,
until we reach
a little shelf,
along which we pass,
walking with great care,
for it is narrow,
until we pass
around the fall.
Here the gorge widens into a spacious, sky-roofed chamber. In the farther end is a beautiful grove of cottonwoods, and between us and the cottonwoods the little stream widens out into three clear lakelets, with bottoms of smooth rock. Beyond the cottonwoods the brook tumbles in a series of white, shining cascades, from heights that seem immeasurable. Turning around, we can look through the cleft through which we came, and see the river, with towering walls beyond. What a chamber for a resting place is this! hewn from the solid rock; the heavens for a ceiling; cascade fountains within; a grove in the conservatory, clear lakelets for a refreshing bath, and an outlook through the doorway on a raging river, with cliffs and mountains beyond.
Our way, after dinner, is through a gorge, grand beyond description. The walls are nearly vertical; the river broad and swift, but free from rocks and falls. At this great depth, the river rolls in solemn majesty...

--John Wesley Powell
journal entry for July 23, 1869

I'll Cross The River As I Cross My Heart

John Gorka: The Gypsy Life

there is nothing
in my head today
nothing awful there
to ponder or confuse me
go ahead in what
you have to say
and I will listen
as I listen to the news


I know the whole truth
there is horrible
it's better if you
take a little at a time
too much and
you are not portable
not enough and you'll be
making happy rhymes


you might like the gypsy life
you judge your progress by the phases of the moon
get your compass and your sharpest knife
'cause people love you when they know you're leaving soon

Grand Canyon Of Light

Ani DiFranco: Grand Canyon of Light
2003 Philadelphia Folk Festival

i love my country
by which i mean
i am indebted joyfully
to all the people
throughout its history
who have fought
the government
to make right
where so many
cunning sons and daughters
our foremothers and forefathers
came singing through slaughter
came through hell and high water
so that we could stand here
and behold breathlessly the sight
how a raging river of tears
cut a grand canyon of light

yes, i've been so many places
flown through vast empty spaces
with stewardesses whose hands
look much older than their faces
i've tossed so many napkins
into that big hole in the sky
been at the bottom of the atlantic
seething in a two-ply
looking up through all that water
and the fishes swimming by
and i don't always feel lucky
but i'm smart enough to try
cuz humility has buoyancy
and above us only sky
so i lean in
breathe deeper
that brutal burning smell
that surrounds
the smoldering wreckage
that i've come to love so well

yes, color me stunned and dazzled
by all the red white
and blue flashing lights
in the american intersection
where black crashed
head on with white
comes a melody
comes a rhythm
a particular resonance
that is us and only us
comes a screaming ambulance
a hand that you can trust
laid steady on your chest
working for the better good
(which is good at its best)
and too, bearing witness
like a woman bears a child:
with all her might
born of the greatest pain
into a grand canyon of light

i mean, no song
has gone unsung here
and this joint is strung crazy tight
and people been
raising up their voices
since it just ain't been right
with all the righteous rage
and all the bitter spite
that will accompany us out
of this long night
that will grab us by the hand
when we are ready to take flight
seatback and traytable
in the upright and locked position
shocked to tears by each new vision
of all that my ancestors have done
like, say, the women
who gave their lives
so that i could have one

people, we are standing
at ground zero
of the feminist revolution
yeah, it was an inside job
stoic and sly
one we're supposed to forget
and downplay and deny
but i think the time is nothing
if not nigh
to let the truth out
coolest f-word ever
deserves a fucking shout!
i mean why can't
all decent men and women
call themselves feminists?
out of respect
for those who fought for this
i mean, look around
we have this

yes
i love my country
by which i mean
i am indebted joyfully
to all the people
throughout its history
who have fought
the government
to make right
where so many
cunning sons and daughters
our foremothers and forefathers
came singing through slaughter
came through hell and high water
so that we could stand here
and behold breathlessly the sight
how a raging river of tears
is cutting a grand canyon of light

--Ani DiFranco

What Are We Gonna Do Now?

The real power
in America
is held by
a fast-emerging
new Oligarchy
of pimps and preachers
who see no need
for Democracy or fairness
or even trees,
except maybe the ones
in their own yards,
and they don't mind
admitting it.
They worship money
and power and death.
Their ideal solution
to all the nation's problems
would be another 100 Year War.

--Hunter S. Thompson
Kingdom of Fear

The Clash: Clampdown

Naked Athena: Portland, Oregon...7/18/20

He Just Thinks He Does

Pete McBride: Leave It As It Is

The difference
between
a brave man
and a coward
is a coward
thinks twice
before jumping
in the cage
with a lion.
The brave man
doesn't know
what a lion is.
He just thinks he does.

--Charles Bukowski
Notes of a Dirty Old Man

Until He Saw The Tents

I asked him if it were a mirage, and he said yes. I said it was a dream, and he agreed,
but said it was the desert's dream not his.
And he told me that in a year or so,
when he had aged enough for any man,
then he would walk into the wind,
until he saw the tents. This time,
he said, he would go on with them.
--Neil Gaiman
Smoke and Mirrors

George Jones / Elvis Costello: Stranger in the House

And Now It Beckoned To Him Once More

The end
he had been
born to serve
yet did not see
had led him
to escape
by an unseen path
and now it
beckoned
to him once more
and a new adventure
was about to
be opened to him.
--James Joyce
A Portrait of the Artist
as a Young Man

CARDENAS BUTTE FROM ESCALANTE ROUTE
BETWEEN MINERAL AND RED CANYON
NOMAD ENCAMPMENT
INNER GORGE (PASS THE FOOT MEDICINE)

Merrily Merrily Merrily Merrily

granite rapid

I will tell you
what I will do
and what I will not do.
I will not serve
that in which
I no longer believe,
whether it calls itself
my home, my fatherland,
or my church:
and I will try
to express myself
in some mode of life or art
as freely as I can
and as wholly as I can,
using for my defense
the only arms
I allow myself to use --
silence, exile, and cunning.

--James Joyce
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

I Think I'll Call It America

I was riding on the Mayflower
when I thought I spied some land
I yelled for Captain Arab
I'll have you understand
who came running to the deck
said boys, forget the whale
we're going over yonder
cut the engines
change the sail
"haul on the bowline"
we sang that melody
like all tough sailors do
when they're far away at sea

I think I'll call it America
I said as we hit land
I took a deep breath
I fell down, I could not stand
Captain Arab he started
writing up some deeds
he said let's set up a fort
and start buying
the place with beads
just then this cop
comes down the street
crazy as a loon
and throws us all in jail
for carrying harpoons

ah me, I busted out
don't even ask me how
I went to get some help
I walked by a guernsey cow
who directed me down
to the Bowery slums
where people carried signs around
saying ban the bums
I jumped right into line
saying I hope that I'm not late
when I realized I hadn't eaten
for five days straight

I went into a restaurant
looking for the cook
I told him I was the editor
of a famous etiquette book
the waitress he was handsome
he wore a powder blue cape
I ordered some suzette, I said
could you please make that crepe
just then the whole kitchen
exploded from boiling fat
food was flying everywhere
I left without my hat

I didn't mean to be nosy
but I went into a bank
to get some bail for Arab
and all the boys back in the tank
they asked me for some collateral
and I pulled down my pants
they threw me in the alley
when up comes
this girl from France
who invited me to her house
I went but she had a friend
who knocked me out
and robbed my boots
and I was on the street again

well I rapped upon a house
with the US flag upon display
I said could you help me out
I got some friends down the way
the man says get out of here
I'll tear you limb from limb
I said you know
they refused Jesus, too
he said you're not him
get out of here
before I break your bones
I ain't your pop
I decided to have him arrested
and I went looking for a cop

I ran right outside
and I hopped inside a cab
I went out the other door
this Englishman said fab
as he saw me leap
a hotdog stand
and a chariot that stood
parked across from a building
advertising brotherhood
I ran right through
the front door
like a hobo sailor does
but it was just
a funeral parlor
and the man
asked me who I was

I repeated that my friends
were all in jail, with a sigh
he gave me his card
he said call me if they die
I shook his hand
and said goodbye
ran out to the street
when a bowling ball
came down the road
and knocked me off my feet
a pay phone was ringing
it just about blew my mind
when I picked it up
and said hello
this foot came through the line

well, by this time I was fed up
at trying to make a stab
at bringing back any help
for my friends
and Captain Arab
I decided to flip a coin
like either heads or tails
would let me know
if I should go
back to the ship
or back to jail
so I hocked my sailor suit
and I got a coin to flip
it came up tails
it rhymed with sails
so I made it back to the ship

I got back and took
the parking ticket off the mast
I was ripping it to shreds
when this coastguard boat
went past
they asked me my name
and I said Captain Kidd
they believed me but
they wanted to know
what exactly that I did
I said for the Pope of Eruke
I was employed
they let me go right away
they were very paranoid

well, the last I heard of Arab
he was stuck on a whale
that was married to
the deputy sheriff of the jail
but the funniest thing was
when I was leaving the bay
I saw three ships a-sailing
they were all heading my way
I asked the captain
what his name was
and how come
he didn't drive a truck
he said his name was Columbus
I just said good luck