Will be taking Klallam language classes with local elders of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe starting Monday morning. I think that the root (perhaps not a taproot, but one the main feeders) of much of modern civilizations insanity, especially with its relationship to the environment, itself a word that subverts the natural world to the mundane back-drop of civilized, human activity rather than as the intimate, living web of which we are only a single thread and through which our actions ripple and create a cascade of consequences and responses, are probably derived from the colonial English language, itself; which has a strong tendency to break everything down into a business deal, into transactions. English truly has come to be the language of global capitalism and inherently lacks much of an imagination for anything else, though the poet really tries. So, by the nature of this language, we can convert forests into cash, and peace into warfare, and this is completely acceptable, because this is how our language has long framed our notions of reality. Even when were eroding the fabric of our existence at its source, we cant hear the mudslide approaching us. I hope that by learning indigenous history and language on the North Olympic Peninsula from the people who know it best - whose indigenous culture was born here and co-evolved with the local natural world, and whose language very literally arose from the raw spirit, the winds and waters and earth, of this place - we can begin to reframe the perspective quite literally in the language of the Olympic forests, the Salish Sea, and the Pacific Ocean. Through indigenous wisdom and knowledge, I hope to come closer to the source and well-spring of the voice of Mother Earth, herself; and let it bring music to those who prove themselves to be deaf.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 19:05:08 +0000
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