From the book:
In Tiwa
So, apparently
when you raise your arm
this is one
vibration.
And when you lower it
this is another.
The beater in your hand
strikes the skin of the drum.
This is also a pulse, and is separate
but also the same
as the resonance charging
the wood of the frame
which vibrates now
the skin of the world
and all of its peoples.
Those of flesh and feather and bone
as those of water
and those of stone.
And if I am to understand this
accurately,
there is no
singular beat.
No one
scintillation
but many
sending the rhythms to feed
gentle feet
or boots in the street.
This I learned from a teacher
of the drum
in a language in which Earth
is a verb
over one long
rainy
weekend.
John Berry’s work has been published in several journals and anthologies including; Vox Poetica, The Yellow Chair Review, Peeking Cat Poetry, Algebra for Owls, and Birdsong: A Celebration of Birds. Most recently, his poem The Day Before It’s Official appeared in Trumped: A Poets Speak Anthology, edited by John Roche. His first book of poems, Wobbly Man, was released in the Spring of 2016 by Red Dashboard Press.
A self-taught woodworker and promotor of all things poetry, John writes from his home in Winchester Virginia with his beloved spouse, Brenda, and their two yorkies, Molly and Lily.
When he is not plying his trade as a carpenter, John hosts a monthly poetry open-mic and also presents a weekly internet tv show at www.winlifetv.com called The Sock Drawer Poetry Series, but can more likely be found, notebook in hand, writing.
Currently in his second year of study with the Whitewinds/Featherstone Institute of Integrative Energy Medicine, and with master level training in Reiki, John looks forward to begin practicing energy medicine alongside his wife in her healing center, Sacred Celebrations.
