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 It's Difficult To Look At The World With New Eyes. By Mari Wadsworth Dancing With the Wind, the ArtsReach Literary Magazine, Volume VIII (1997). IT'S DIFFICULT TO look at the world with new eyes. Dedicated poets spend careers chasing after elusive images, searching for new or rediscovered ways to make language reinvent our world. How refreshing, then, to read a magazine that captures this poetic discovery and reflection at the original source: from the mouths of young writers, ages 6 to 16.
"Elders teach us to be respectful of language, to be careful of what we say lest we cause things to happen," Morris writes in his introduction. "In this slim volume written by the children of the first peoples of Arizona, we encounter proof that the affinity and reverence we have for language has taken root and is alive and well in the next generation."
In the heady line-up of talent in this weekend's Poetry Festival,
take an hour to honor the achievements of these young-old voices
who, with simple, elegant language, share their excitement of
seeing and interpreting the world for the first time. As Morris
says, "In the process of telling me who they are, they remind
me of who I am."
ArtsReach students read from Dancing With the Wind at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, April 4, in the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. Call 624-2045 or 798-3196 for more information. Dancing With the Wind is $7, available at local bookstores or by writing ArtsReach, 1800 E. Fort Lowell Road, Tucson, AZ 85719.
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© 1995-97 Tucson Weekly . Info Booth |
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Dancing With the Wind, published annually since 1989,
is an anthology of stories and poems written by students from
the Casa Grande, Indian Oasis, Marana and Tucson Unified school
districts--all participants in workshops by ArtsReach, a non-profit
organization enhancing the academic progress and positive self-image
of Native American students, via imaginative writing.
It's a rich program, both creatively and culturally, and this
year's finished product is a joyful, multi-faceted collection
of retold legends, fantastic visions, painful losses and urban
confessions. From delicate homages to the lizard and butterfly
to truths laid bare about lost brothers and unplanned pregnancies,
Dancing With the Wind is a gift of beauty, optimism and
truth, edited with obvious pride and respect by Toeaachi-Navajo
writer Irvin Morris, who will soon leave his Buffalo, N.Y., home
to join the UA creative writing faculty.
