Beauty Spell
I once kissed a chameleon’s tail, curled
gently into a soft fiddlehead spiral,
hanging from the thin arm of a bush. It
blushed and ran (or walked quickly) away,
then turned around and watched me. I
brought dead bugs to it once or twice.
I liked its mitten hands.
I have not done it a second time.
[e.l.elasigue / Eva L. Elasigue CC-BY 4.0 Creative Commons]
Let Me Be Your Ocean, Bold Surfer
I have an idea: you be you,
and I can be the ocean.
Come to me, get excited to see me
Cherish your favorite spots
and take good care of them,
Love me knowing you
can’t keep others from me
Pay close attention to my details
and get me on a good day.
Bring your friends to see me,
party with me day into night
Respect me when you want me,
like I hold your life
Feel me soft, warm, hard, cold, taste me.
Get into my depths, feel my movement –
add to me your exhilaration,
your courage and smooth grace
Let me give you glory,
make you smile, laugh, scream, and sigh,
then surrender to my complete embrace.
Sit in awe of my beauty when I’m at peace.
Leave me longingly,
when you can’t take any more,
already thinking about the next time
you can do it all again, anew.
[e.l.elasigue / Eva L. Elasigue CC-BY 4.0 Creative Commons]
Tune in closely to hear it amidst the hubbub at the cervecería:
This is an adaptable poetic lyrics set that I wrote with guitarist-composer Ari Joshua. We delineated, triangulated, and channeled this at The Music Factory in Seattle, WA US in November 2020. This can be played for, interpreted, and re-written. Whatever this might become in any other version or iteration, this is its first pure form, fresh from the mist.
–
The Grand Narrative
–
PLANET
perspective of the grounding center
home place encapsulating
coming from a place to be in a space
the where and why and how
flowers bowing, sending love their emissary
filling my vision with color
and grace in the lines of shape
the warm caress of meeting
life in its own place
where I am only what I can be
–
THE CLIMB
it begins somewhere
I look around
I’m where I am
but there’s somewhere else to be
something that I need
I know that I can get it
so I’m going to go do that
send myself upslope
there’s something to be seen along the way
which may be a point in itself
I’m keeping myself going
with the ache of believing
steps of being and becoming
go along with overrunning
to that fundamental exhaustion
that’s completion of a task
I do it because it’s better than contemplating it
I may as well be on my way
–
SHATTERING
the tumble of beauty undone
what may have been
that kept us in the dream
no longer what it seemed
that which was not and will never be again
from now on it can only be this way
sharp edges of the breaks
where continuity was lost
scuffs of the descent
the never-swept dust of microscopic shards
knowing it’s coming
watching it fall
carries an almost sweet surrender
in the way it can’t be changed
the wreckage is magnificent
fulfilling by the time it happens
–
OWN JOYS
rise
Stretch
unfurl
ready for life
when everything is here
that makes me care
sunshine
every tone of light
on the eye on the skin
breathing in
feeling it from within
thrill
rhythm in motion
bring it to another
mind to mind
each to each
we reach a peak
to find the view
and hold it in
–
LOSS
there’s a having in the losing
once it’s gone it’ll only be that way forever
it’s one way of reaching acceptance, finally
that’s all it could ever be, when it’s done
and then it’s a part of me
only a part of only me
that’s the last thing it can be
before it’s truly gone
like it never even was
and when things go back to never having been
what else might they become?
if anything
is a story real
is a thought something you can feel
what do I really have at all?
something that I had once
is something that I’ll have forever
until its return to never
when it’s really gone, can I even say goodbye?
–
OTHER WORLDS
looking around
light in the sky
revealing details, expanding
coming to an understanding
finding where a path may lead
within, down, around, up
what there is to give and to create
from the self to the other
growing into being
all that lays within expansive seeing
gentleness in remaining
receptive to the blessings
some things echo harshly
from the marks they’ve left
just standing and knowing
about all this is part
of everything that comes after
savoring the reality of this existence
strange lands scenarios environs habitats biomes realms
this body is home in all of them
all of it home to this body
–
CC-BY 4.0 ELE / Eva L. Elasigue
Writing after all your writing went away (lost/taken/destroyed):
I wrote these tips upon the request of an innkeeper who had lost her computer files in a breakup. I’ve experienced total storage loss, and I’ve heard it from others as well; it might be rough to point out that all accounts of this I’ve received have been from women who lost what they had produced because of troubles with a male partner, but that could be either here or there when it comes to one’s own writing apocalypse. Is there life after the apocalypse? Maybe.
Tres Palabras, Three Words
joven, juego, espíritu
youth, play, spirit
corazón, vuela, voces
heart, fly, voices
llores, alma, emociones
cry, soul, feelings
hogar, coneccion, vida
home, connection, life
mira, entiendo, digo
look, understand, speak
calendario, dia, ritmo
calendar, day, rhythm
aire, fueguito, hermano
air, flame, brother
arriba, acción, pensado
up, action, think
velocidad, legendario, historia
speed, legendary, story
suave, quiero, noche
smooth, wanting, night
ojos, animales, liñas
eyes, animals, lines
(ELE / Eva L. Elasigue CC-BY 4.0 Creative Commons)
This poem was written and performed live within this benefit circus cabaret. There was also a class of schoolkids in attendance from the local area, so I decided on a form that many ages could enjoy, that would add just a little spice in the transitions between acts. This was similarly performed like the first Cabaret Poem, where each set was the inspiration for something that was read aloud by myself directly afterward. Three words is enough to set, evoke, or recall an image, and I read each three words in both languages, for a bilingual audience. I’m considering this another form that others could use, like the wordpairing in A Wizard Sees, The Alien Observes, also created live with this Momentom Collective residency. Three words is something that a language novice can conjure with translation to respond to an image.
I made a dancing entrance to my typewriter as with Cabaret Poem, this time solo with a flow torus. This piece was called Magnetism, or Magnetic Aura, or Magnetic Field. It alluded to the shape of the magnetic field of planet Earth, as well as that of the human body, as reflected in the shape of the object. Each three words could be seen as particles attracted to the energy of the performance. I had previously also performed with the torus as a water spirit with the Cutthroat Pirates float in the Friday Harbor Independence Day parade.
(full entrance performance)
Above, the original composition sheets. Below, performance photos, myself in the lower right corner of both. The second is resident performers and staff families.
At this diverse series of short talks held within an arts residency, I took 5 minutes to explain the different kinds of Creative Commons open licenses, the internationally tailored legal codes to protect intellectual property and any intentions for sharing it.
You can see on the board that I reversed my name and topic columns, like a true freethinker.
I’m currently using specific Creative Commons licenses for my poetry, short theater scripts, and Bones of Starlight, the science fiction fantasy space opera trilogy. I was granted a scholarship to go to Creative Commons Global Summit Lisbon in 2019 to hold a 15-minute talk on my adventures in science fiction fantasy novel publishing using CC, and I was a fulltime volunteer at the Global Summits in Toronto 2017 & 2018. I’ve shared Creative Commons at other venues, including WorldCon (site of the Hugo Awards) in panel with fellow science fiction author and blogger Cory Doctorow. I’ve been using Creative Commons to publish and share my work since 2014.
This is the only record of a dynamic and interesting tag-team talk on creative writing for personal goals and publishing – Wednesday afternoon, that’s us. I co-taught with travel memoir novelist & Momentom founder John Early, presenting from my science fiction fantasy experience, so we had great parallels and contrasts. I guided a moment of focus, we each discussed our backgrounds and read some work aloud, John hosted an exercise, and we held an open talk on publishing.
I’m often holding writing sessions within a writers’ setting, so I’m proud to hold space for my art within a group hosting many different kinds of arts. I sometimes seek those areas where I’m on the fringe, let it be noted, because there’s a lot of possibility for exchange of ideas there.
1
tierra
canta
espíritu
abierto
open,
spirit
sing,
earth
welcome,
people
time
now
tiempo
ahora
personas
bienvenido
journey
stars
viaje
estrellas
2
spring
up
fall
down
personas
animales
unite
breath
power
vitality
refleccion
baila
cloud
pictures
sleeping
movimiento
piedras
tumbling
sol
arising
wisdom
montaña
vista
home
3
cuerpo
emoción
sultry
heart
brazos
fuerte
calling
life
4
lights
gathering
rising
meeting
heat
expression
gifts
offered
5
origines
agua
puro
manos
energía
surrender
togetherness
durmiendo
todos
juntos
[ELE / Eva L. Elasigue CC-BY 4.0 Creative Commons]
This poem contains a lot of factors! I designed the process to accompany a multi-scene group performance across two outdoor stages. The show had its own storyline of wizards arguing with duendes (elven spirits) over the beauty or tragedy of humanity as examined through the lens of four elements. The alien in mention is a character that descended at the beginning, though assigning the wizard or the alien to either language has its own reflections of meaning, and it could be read aloud that way. Myself coming from the United States, there is a tension around the Spanish language and its association with the idea of being an alien – whereas I was the English-speaking alien in the Spanish-speaking country of Nicaragua.
I, the poet, entered as a wizard dancer with the others at the beginning, in Jedi attire with a lightsaber-like pen (of course, mightier than the lightsaber) and notebook. I accompanied the show in the audience, writing to the scenes while glowing. I also helped guide and direct the audience from stage to stage, dancing martial arts with my glowing pen while in movement. Two words to a notebook page was the format I decided would suit the fast pace of performance and the show dynamic, with words in English and Spanish for a bilingual audience. The poem as displayed was written in order.
Parts of these freshly-penned poems were sung in live improvisation, by me, with music by each of the three DJs who played after the show: Izzy Wise @izzy_wise , Danni G @dannig , and Ricardo @irickysaenz .
I played with form as I wrote, differently for each scene, and am including, below, the notebook pages where I broke down the juxtaposition and stanza-mirroring of English and Spanish, in sometimes-reversed sometimes-translation. I tightened or accented my Spanish as I’ve recopied it.
I have not seen the form employed or explained before; consider this invented wordpair flow as a formal offering for live inspiration. It can evoke a lot, two words at a time, and while able to offer beauty as itself, can serve as a base for further expansion. I reserve the option of expanding from this poem, while also sharing it in its primal form.
Formplay Observation below, marks explained after maps
E=English, S=Spanish
-1-
S1
S2
. . (stanza translation reflection)
E2 (reversed)
E1 (reversed)
[. .] (double stanza translation form reflection)
E3
E4
. . (stanza translation reflection)
S4
S3 (reversed)
E5
[ ] (mini coda language reflection)
S5
–
-2-
E
E
S
: (repetition)
E
E
S
[ E ] (standalone)
E
S
. . (stanza language reflection)
S
E
:2 (double stanza form reflection inverted)
S
E
. . (stanza language reflection)
E
S
. . (stanza language reflection)
[ S
E ] (standalone/third)
-3-
S
E
S
E
-4-
E
E
E
E
-5-
S
S
S
S
S
E
E
S
S
S
This type station existed for two outdoor full moon ceremonies at my Nicaragua residency, and it was a standing invite to collaboratively create a line of poetry. The main prompt was to go back and forth between myself and the guest, adding one word at a time, though this could be flexibly applied. These lines are signed collaboratively, and are shared here under a CC-BY 4.0 Creative Commons license. I later created aesthetic line breaks and punctuation.
–
Magic
transition
openness
anticipation
love
gift
(Jeff R. & ELE)
–
Water deep inside
welling, it rises into fountains
(Tuulia & ELE)
–
Bursting into relation,
rising together in support
(T & Tony contact dance
words from ELE)
–
Fuerte la luz sexual
de la luna llena
tranquilo
(Fenix y ELE)
–
Stillness centered
begins through a place of grounding
(Sophia & ELE)
–
Grateful seeing you shining tonight
within me, I am here –
heartbeat yearning
(Asher & ELE)
–
A troupe of creative performers in training residency together with Momentom at El Pital-Ometepe-Nicaragua assembled a variety showcase cabaret. My writer’s role involved typing a few lines of poetry during each performance, and sharing these reflections between acts. This included a grand entrance: I was acrobatically lifted across the stage to my typewriter station. To begin, here is the poetry in abstracted nine-part form, with some lines in spanish:
Cabaret Poem
1.
knowing understanding
the breath,
el fuerte interno
holding the connection
2.
contemplate,
poder como el mar
wild forces elemental
in the warrior
3.
sensual y ritmico
the grace of feeling
trabajo del corazon
in rainbow light
visiones del todo
4.
from the shadows of thought
climb,
a libertad
the being in wholeness
la vida en el viento
sparkle in the diamond
5.
adventure
espiritu
con amigos
6.
danger in extension
la geometria
orbiting the center
returning to the self
los circulos y espirales del tiempo
7.
el hombre magico y mysterioso
con los manos
moving the world
8.
la mariposa del muerte y vida
the whorls of this galaxy’s flaming suns
el sol y la tierra
open the gates of possibility
to infinity
9.
a sense of purpose
the staff of will
luchar por el verdad
with swords of integrity
[licensed CC-BY 4.0 Creative Commons]
Above are the pages typed on the spot!
With some of my espanol upgrading.
Preparing my station and accepting the mic.
And here at the end, is the beginning:
