TILLING THE FIELD Michael Dow workshop

DRAFT (don't know if I ever typed this one up)

The moon is almost fitful tonight.

A train whistles and moans

midway between night and morning
Cylindrical wheels resonate,

a throbbing echo and clatter.
The ticking of the clock echoes

the throbbing train, and the heart.

Systolic/diastolic. Open & closed.
There is a storm gathering 

in the direction of her eyes.

A line should be the length of a row.
It's the breath feeling, 

a staccato furrow of assonance 

dissonance and consonants.

The break in the link 

the breath and the line 

is a unit of breath.

Maybe we should go back,
chant in the rhythm of the hunt,
chant in the rhythm of plowing.
A line runs the length of a row.
To make a verse is to turn back on itself

and go against the direction of the row.
Go against the direction of the chant
boustrophedon, as the plowman walks.

There is a gathering storm.

July 1, 1979 Michael Dow workshop

minor rev. 11/2/2015 (mostly consolidated line breaks) 

Child in Changing Times Conference  

Arts in Everyday Living

6/28 to July 1

SSU