"In the Blood" by Christopher Fox Graham

"In the Blood"

by Christopher Fox Graham

Fair warning,
you die first.

"...written with his own blood" by Janina-Photography

I know, you’re thinking that with all my whiskey nights
I’d cease the fight first
but fate plays dice —
my eulogy isn’t profound, but between us
it’s the only poem worth all the blood I’ve verbalized
my heart beats after yours
because I never could imagine the world without you
so you had to show me the hard way
even this old, I’m still chasing you
like I did at the beginning

— 10 —

Our daughters visit one by one
find me holding one hand
while a machine holds the other
beeping,
beeping,
beeping
with clockwork regularity
counting down the heartbeats you have left —
I read you 60 years of blood poured into poems
“The Peach” still makes you laugh

— 9 —

We send our son a message to the colony on Mars
he can never visit,
when he boarded the shuttle
we knew it was a one way trip
I tell him to hold his sons tonight
gaze across the terrain
and remember that the red in his blood
is deeper and darker
binding him forever to home

— 8 —
On the first day of our retirement
we burn all your business cards
and all my button-down white shirts —
we make love in the kitchen like horny teenagers
I later find your red underwear in the sink —
the pasta boils over and burns the pot
so we feed it to the neighbors’ dog
you hate the neighbors
but like the dog

— 7 —
after my wedding toast,
I swing dance with our youngest daughter at the reception
because I save all my slow dances for you
rest my hand in the small of your back
kiss your crimson lips like the first time
when we get to our empty nest,
we split a bottle of Jameson
and wake cuddling each other’s pounding hangovers

— 6 —
you get almost leave me three times
the first two are admittedly my fault —
I don’t learn about the third until years later
when your reasons have faded to such silliness
you laugh when you tell me why
I buy red roses for a month anyway

— 5 —
in the Red Chair Hotel lounge in Prague
we hold hands
not saying a word
and for an hour
no one else enters
that was the moment —
the one I’d hold onto
when asked,
“what was the best day of your life?”

— 4 —
By the last one, you’re a pro —
but you leave my arm bruised
when our first child is born
one fingernail drew blood
and the scar is my joy
that I became a father

— 3 —
the proposal was unexpected
I stood on the stage
performing a poem you’d heard before
but you noticed two lines changed
and midway through, a new stanza flipped the meaning
before I dropped to a knee and asked
the time penalty cost me points
and the other poets called you a “prop”
but we got four 10s and a red heart
when you said "yes"

— 2 —
I apologize for our third date
everything goes wrong
the restaurant is terrible
you kiss me so deep I get hiccups
the sex is sloppy
I cut my hand changing the flat tire
so the first time you say it
I am staring at the bloody bandage
wondering about stitches
so I have to ask, “what do you say?!”

— 1 —
I small talk
to mask my skipping heart
although I can’t tell if you like me
when you finally ask me out
blood rushes from my fingers and toes
leaving me warmly cold

but all the way home
I think how the first poem
should start at the end
and work backward
so the only mistake I’ll ever regret
was waiting so long to begin

"Telephone" by Owen Davis and Eugene Brosseau, performed by Jess Ryan and Christopher Fox Graham

"TELEPHONE for solo piano and mixed media" from Owen Davis on Vimeo.

Poet Christopher Fox Graham, left, composer Owen Davis, pianist Jess Ryan,
and poet Eugene Brosseau at Northern Arizona University's Ashurst
Auditorium on Saturday, Dec. 8.

In collaboration with visual artist and poet Eugene Brosseau, "TELEPHONE" is a piano solo commissioned by Jess Ryan in 2012. Using the sounds of live and prerecorded telephones along with spoken word poetry, this work aims to integrate the entire performance space and audience into the music. The video serves as a montage of information and the full performance at Ashurst Auditorium at Northern Arizona University on Saturday, Dec. 8.
For more information on the work, please contact: owendavismusic@gmail.com

What I do is use one cell phone to call another, put them both on speaker, and place them earpiece to mouthpiece to create a feedback loop, which grows louder. By the third portion, it sounds like digital crickets, which coincides with Brosseau's line "holding it tight as crickets call from under the back porch."

"Telephone"

By Eugene Brosseau

This whole thing started as a conversation
but has turned to so much noise that neither of us can hear the other

as if the words themselves were now the meaning
and the only virtue of silence is its contrast to such incessant discord

I can barely tell your voice from mine as we run together unaware in wasted words

our minds made unclear by the now hoarse voices we hurl at the walls of each other's holdings

I know passion must play a part and I suffer for not recognizing yours
and yet I insist on trying
at first to convince you
and then to drown you out

unwilling to refuse myself I beat you about the ears while I persist in covering my own

but I am beginning to feel that I want something better

I want a revelation

BREAK

Some strand of hope must be running through this
something vital coming over the lines

I can feel it under my bare feet as I run through you like a puddle

splashing as I go to make you feel my waves
which are all reduced to ripples

when
if ever we stop
can we listen to the silence
and find something in common there

there is where we could live

in the stillness on the line

we could walk into that silence
like a Baptist into a river
with all our armor off
complete and unrevealed
and wash away this enmity and dread

BREAK

Are you there

I can hear you breathing
please don’t hang up
stay on until I fall asleep

you can tell me what you see when your eyes are closed and I'll just listen
holding the empty can to my ear while the string hums

holding it tight as crickets call from under the back porch
and the stars are coming out in the purple sky
and the pine trees send their comfort on the cool air
through the screen window into my room
where I lie on my bed legs crossed

listening to your words

humming on the string

into the empty can

pressed against my ear

Josh Wiss wins the second Sedona Poetry Slam of the 2012-13 National Poetry Slam season

Josh Wiss wins the second Sedona Poetry Slam of the 2012-13 National Poetry Slam season, held Nov. 17, at Studio Live in West Sedona.

Josh Wiss of Flagstaff and Phoenix, wins the second Sedona Poetry Slam of the 2012-13 National Poetry Slam season

Round 1

Random Draw

** Unfortunately, I saved over the November slam's scores with the December slam's scores. From the video, I was able to rebuild the later half of the slam, but the first half of the slam only has the poems, not the scores. Where applicable, I have the scores listed. **
Calibration: Valence, of Phoenix
Evan Dissinger, of Flagstaff, 22.5
Taylor Hayes, of Flagstaff
Charles Levett, of Phoenix
Jackson Morris, of Flagstaff, 24.5
Austin Reeves, of Flagstaff
Gary Every, of Sedona
Bert Cisneros, of Cottonwood
Leo, of Camp Verde
Joy Young, of Phoenix
Josh Floyd, of Flagstaff
Josh Wiss, of Flagstaff
The Klute, of Phoenix

Teaser: Houston Hughes, of Fayetteville, Ark.

Round 2

Reverse Order

The Klute, of Phoenix
Josh Wiss, of Flagstaff
Josh Floyd, of Flagstaff
Joy Young, of Phoenix
Leo, of Camp Verde
Bert Cisneros, of Cottonwood
Gary Every, of Sedona
Austin Reeves, of Flagstaff, 24.0
Jackson Morris, of Flagstaff, 27.9
Charles Levett, of Phoenix, 25.1
Taylor Hayes, of Flagstaff, voluntarily disqualified for peforming Shane Hawley cover poem
Evan Dissinger, of Flagstaff, 28.7

Slam poet Houston Hughes from Fayetteville, Ark., featured at Sedona's Studio Live
on Saturday, Nov. 17

Feature: Houston Hughes, of Fayetteville, Ark.

Sorbet: Christopher Fox Graham, of "Oil & Deep Water, Part II: Étouffée"

Round 3

High to Low

Joy Young, of Phoenix, 26.3, 79.7
Jackson Morris, of Flagstaff, 26.9, 79.3
Josh Wiss, of Flagstaff, 28.7, 80.8
Evan Dissinger, of Flagstaff, 28.5, 79.7
Josh Floyd, of Flagstaff, 28.7, 77.6

Tied for second place at 79.7, Joy Young, of Phoenix, beat Evan Dissinger, of Flagstaff, in a Haiku Death Match.

Victory: Josh Wiss, of Flagstaff

Final Scores
Josh Wiss, of Flagstaff, 80.8
Joy Young, of Phoenix, 79.7 (2nd after Haiku Death Match)
Evan Dissinger, of Flagstaff, 79.7 (3rd after Haiku Death Match)
Jackson Morris, of Flagstaff, 79.3
Josh Floyd, of Flagstaff, 77.6

The Klute, of Phoenix

Leo, of Camp Verde
Bert Cisneros, of Cottonwood
Gary Every, of Sedona
Austin Reeves, of Flagstaff

Charles Levett, of Phoenix
Taylor Hayes, of Flagstaff

Scorekeeper: Jackie Stockwell, of Flagstaff
Camerawoman: Azami, of Sedona

Sedona National Poetry Slam Team

Slamoff Point Standings

6 points

Josh Wiss, of Flagstaff ✓

4 points

Ryan Brown, of Flagstaff ✓
The Klute, of Phoenix
3 points

Evan Dissinger, of Flagstaff

Joy Young, of Phoenix
2 points 

Austin Reeves, of Flagstaff
Bert Cisneros, of Cottonwood
Charles Levett, of Phoenix
Christopher Fox Graham, of Sedona
1 point

Ashley Swazey, of Phoenix
Gary Every, of Sedona
Houston Hughes, of Fayetteville, Ark.
Jackie Stockwell, of Flagstaff
Jackson Morris, of Flagstaff
Jeremiah Blue, of Phoenix
Josh Floyd, of Flagstaff
Lauren Deja, of Phoenix
Lauren Perry, of Phoenix
Little Blue Lyon-Fish, of Phoenix
Lynn Gravatt, of Sedona
nodalone, of Las Vegas
Rowie Shebala, of Phoenix
Taylor Hayes, of Flagstaff 

0.5 points
Vincent Vega, of Flagstaff

✓ = won a Sedona Poetry Slam

Flagstaff's Sundara Poetry Slam featured on NAZ Today

"Flagstaff's poetry slams give local poets the opportunity to showcase their talents to an audience and have their work scored by judges. NAZ Today photographer's Derek Ellis and Alex Thomas took us there to find out more about what goes down at the slam."

Featuring interviews with Sundara manager, poet and host John Quinonez, poet Jackson Morris and poet Maya Hall and snippets of poems by me and lots of Sundara's regular.

Sedona Poetry Slam is today at 7:30 p.m.

Sedona's Studio Live hosts a poetry slam today, Saturday, Dec. 1, starting at 7:30 p.m. featuring poet Jordan Ranft, of Santa Rosa, Calif., and hosted by Sedona poet Christopher Fox Graham.

Tickets are $12

All poets are welcome to compete for the $75 grand prize and $25 second-place prize. The prize is funded in part by a donation from Verde Valley poetry supporter Jeanne Freeland.

The slam is the third of the 2012-13 season, which will culminate in selection of Sedona's second National Poetry Slam Team, the foursome and alternate who will represent the city at the National Poetry Slam in Boston and Cambridge, Mass., in August.

The local poets will share the stage with 300 of the top poets in the United States, Canada and Europe, pouring out their words in a weeklong explosion of expression. Sedona sent its five-poet first team to the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C.

Jordan Ranft

Jordan Ranft, of Santa Rosa, Calif., features at the Sedona Poetry Slam at
Studio Live on Saturday, Dec. 1.

Ranft loves poetry. He loves writing it, and he loves performing it. In the few years he has been practicing his craft he has taken the scene by storm. First starting performance career out in Colorado Jordan placed several times at the Mercury Cafe Slam in Denver.

Now residing in northern California he has performed all over the San Francisco Bay rea, won multiple slams, and has featured at several big events including the Northbay Poetry Slam, Desert Rocks Music Festival and the San Francisco How Weird Street fair. He derives his poetry from personal struggle and growth. His main goal is to be true to himself while putting on the most entertaining show he possibly can.

Sedona Poetry Slam

Poets need at least three original poems, each three minutes long or shorter. No props, costumes or musical accompaniment are permitted. All types of poetry are welcome.

The slam will be hosted by Graham, who represented Northern Arizona on six FlagSlam National Poetry Slams in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010 and 2012.

Charles Levett, Joy Young, The Klute, Lynn Gravatt, Evan Dissinger, Jackson Morris, Tyler Sirvinskas aka Valence, Jasmine Wilkerson Sufi, Leo Bryant, Ryan Brown, Joshua Wiss, Lauren Perry, Maya Hall, Jeremiah Blue and Ian are scheduled to slam.

What is Poetry Slam?

Founded in Chicago in 1984, poetry slam is a competitive artistic sport. Poetry slams are judged by five randomly chosen members of the audience who assign numerical value to individual poets' contents and performances.

Poetry slam has become an international artistic sport, with more than 100 major poetry slams in the United States, Canada, Australia and Western Europe.

All types of poetry are welcome on the stage, from street-wise hip-hop and narrative performance poems, to political rants and introspective confessionals. Any poem is a "slam" poem if performed in a competition. All poets get three minutes per round to entertain their audience with their creativity.

2013 Sedona National Poetry Slam Team

Competing poets earn points with each Sedona Poetry Slam performance between September and May. Every poet earns 1 point for performing or hosting. First place earns 3 additional points, second place earns 2 and third place earns 1.

Based on points, the top 12 poets in May are eligible to compete for the four slots on the Sedona Poetry Slam Team, which will represent the community and Studio Live at the 2013 National Poetry Slam in Boston. Poets can compete for multiple teams during a season and still be eligible to compete in the Sedona team.

For poetry slam standings, videos from past slams, and updates, visit foxthepoet.blogspot.com.

Tickets are $12 the day of the event, at the door and online at studiolivesedona.com.

Studio Live is located at 215 Coffee Pot Drive, West Sedona. For more information, call (928) 282-2688.

"No Gravity," by Brian Omni Dillon

My favorite poem from the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C., was Brian Omni Dillon's "No Gravity." This is an awesomely well-done video performance of that piece.

"For Eliza (No Gravity)"

Performed & Written by Brian Omni Dillon

Shot & Edited by Sean Gallagher

Music by Thom O'Connor
www.IntangibleCollective.com

"No Gravity,"

By Brian Omni Dillon

For Eliza, No Gravity

The tenth girl after you is how I found myself saying these things. Her hands are smaller. She smells different, but her eyes are planets, like yours. I am reminded of what it was like to first love you every time her mouth opens. Every inch of it is a mural in neon. A symphony of paint and torch.

The ninth girl after you is prettier than she needs to be and she knows it. She'd only kiss me in the corner and still slash out the bulb with a switch of black hair. She doesn't deserve me.

The eighth girl is pornography. She's clit-ring, cocaine, bar-fight. She’s the filthy you. The one desperate to save us in our last months sharing a home. Her face is trampoline, her chest is an airbag. She got as much respect in the end as you did.

The seventh girl after you is a decade my senior. She's a bright light in a mineshaft. Her face is a poppy plant and she kisses me like she’d swallowed the still-living wrist of an addict. We are elephants feasting on bush meat to survive the drought.

The sixth girl after you is a totem. An east-river biplane on the fourth of July. She always wears black like shes seducing the scythe. Always on the way to another funeral. Her body is a comic book. Her skirts are wreaths of flames. You loved her poetry. So does everyone else.

The fifth girl after you is Egypt-thick. She is jeans to the ankles in the bathroom. She is vomit in the bedsheets. She sucks dick like her life depends on it and it might.

The fourth girl after you is an angel. She didn’t mean anything by it. Like you, shes in love now. She's square-peg, square hole. Like you, she wont answer my texts.

The third girl after you a mother, like you are now. And I don't flinch and sputter when she shows me photos of hers like I do with photos of yours. She and I never slept inside of one another. Never argued playfully about how early I could teach her sons to ice skate. It was wine, it was sloppy, it was stupid and it was temporary.

The second girl after you is a panther punched against the wall by the crack of lighting. A white light artery in the midnight’s arm. She is so small and dirty I wear her under a thumbnail. Every inch of friction in our laps was another syllable in a goodbye note. I am the suicide calling the car crash an accident. I'm the whiskey breath and the wheel. I am the indent her teeth left in her bottom lip. I'm a reason to cut yourself.

The first girl after you was a cake-shaped wound in your thigh. She's the reason your sons were named incorrectly. The reason they won’t have my hair. The reason I won't be invited to a wedding that I'd just ruin in a spill of bourbon. Your sons are beautiful. Your eyes are planets. I'm a fucking spaceman. No gravity. Your eyes are planets. And your sons should be grateful for them.

2011 © Brian Omni Dillon

Photo by Jonathan Weiskopf 

Brian Omni Dillon

Brian Omni Dillon is a performance poet, author, educator, and organizer from New York City. Currently a professor of performance poetry at New York University's Gallatin School, he is also the fourth-ranked slam poet in the world and a writer-in-residence at the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe.

In 2011 Dillon finished in second place alongside his Nuyorican teammates at the National Poetry Slam in Boston, Mass. His debut novel "Eat The Rich" was published in the winter of 2011 by DefWords Press. 

He has served as a guest host and featured poet on the world renowned Indiefeed performance poetry podcast numerous times. In his free-time, Dillon is an aficionado of youth ice hockey, designer lighting and bad music.

Jordan Ranft features at the Sedona Poetry Slam on Saturday, Dec. 1

Sedona's Studio Live hosts a poetry slam Saturday, Dec. 1, starting at 7:30 p.m. featuring poet Jordan Ranft, of Santa Rosa, Calif., and hosted by Sedona poet Christopher Fox Graham.

Tickets are $10 in advance through Nov. 30, $12 on Dec. 1.

(The $2 discount appears at checkout).

All poets are welcome to compete for the $75 grand prize and $25 second-place prize. The prize is funded in part by a donation from Verde Valley poetry supporter Jeanne Freeland.

The slam is the third of the 2012-13 season, which will culminate in selection of Sedona's second National Poetry Slam Team, the foursome and alternate who will represent the city at the National Poetry Slam in Boston and Cambridge, Mass., in August.

The local poets will share the stage with 300 of the top poets in the United States, Canada and Europe, pouring out their words in a weeklong explosion of expression. Sedona sent its five-poet first team to the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C.

Jordan Ranft

Jordan Ranft, of Santa Rosa, Calif., features at the Sedona Poetry Slam at
Studio Live on Saturday, Dec. 1.

Ranft loves poetry. He loves writing it, and he loves performing it. In the few years he has been practicing his craft he has taken the scene by storm. First starting performance career out in Colorado Jordan placed several times at the Mercury Cafe Slam in Denver.

Now residing in northern California he has performed all over the San Francisco Bay rea, won multiple slams, and has featured at several big events including the Northbay Poetry Slam, Desert Rocks Music Festival and the San Francisco How Weird Street fair. He derives his poetry from personal struggle and growth. His main goal is to be true to himself while putting on the most entertaining show he possibly can.

Sedona Poetry Slam

To compete in the slam, poets need at least three original poems, each three minutes long or shorter. No props, costumes or musical accompaniment are permitted. All types of poetry are welcome.

The slam will be hosted by Graham, who represented Northern Arizona on six FlagSlam National Poetry Slams in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010 and 2012.

Contact Graham at foxthepoet@yahoo.com to sign up to slam.

What is Poetry Slam?

Founded in Chicago in 1984, poetry slam is a competitive artistic sport. Poetry slams are judged by five randomly chosen members of the audience who assign numerical value to individual poets' contents and performances.

Poetry slam has become an international artistic sport, with more than 100 major poetry slams in the United States, Canada, Australia and Western Europe.

All types of poetry are welcome on the stage, from street-wise hip-hop and narrative performance poems, to political rants and introspective confessionals. Any poem is a "slam" poem if performed in a competition. All poets get three minutes per round to entertain their audience with their creativity.

2013 Sedona National Poetry Slam Team

Competing poets earn points with each Sedona Poetry Slam performance between September and May. Every poet earns 1 point for performing or hosting. First place earns 3 additional points, second place earns 2 and third place earns 1.

Based on points, the top 12 poets in May are eligible to compete for the four slots on the Sedona Poetry Slam Team, which will represent the community and Studio Live at the 2013 National Poetry Slam in Boston. Poets can compete for multiple teams during a season and still be eligible to compete in the Sedona team.

For poetry slam standings, videos from past slams, and updates, visit foxthepoet.blogspot.com.

Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 the day of the event, available at Golden Word Books and Music, 3150 W. SR 89A, and online at studiolivesedona.com.

Studio Live is located at 215 Coffee Pot Drive, West Sedona. For more information, call (928) 282-2688.

Buy your tickets now for the Sedona Poetry Slam on Saturday, Nov. 17

Houston Hughes features at the Sedona Poetry Slam on Saturday, Nov. 17

Sedona's Studio Live hosts a poetry slam Saturday, Nov. 17, starting at 7:30 p.m. featuring Fayetteville, Ark., poet Houston Hughes and hosted by Sedona poet Christopher Fox Graham.

Click here to buy your tickets now.

(Tickets appear as $12, but a $2 discount for early purchase is added at checkout)

Poets compete for the $75 grand prize and $25 second-place prize. The prize is funded in part by a donation from Verde Valley poetry supporter Jeanne Freeland.

The slam is the first of the 2012-13 season, which will culminate in selection of Sedona's second National Poetry Slam Team, the foursome and alternate who will represent the city at the National Poetry Slam in Boston and Cambridge, Mass., in August.


The local poets will share the stage with 300 of the top poets in the United States, Canada and Europe, pouring out their words in a weeklong explosion of expression.

Sedona sent its five-poet first team to the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C.

Sedona's Studio Live hosts a poetry slam Saturday, Nov. 17, starting at
7:30 p.m. featuring poet Houston Hughes from Fayetteville, Ark.

Houston Hughes

Houston Hughes was introduced to poetry slam in 2006, and by 2010 had made finals stage at the Individual World Poetry Slam, placing him among the top 12 performance poets in the world.

In the time in between, he won individual recognition at the 2008 College Union Poetry Slam Invitational tournament, led the Hendrix College team to win the Region 12 championship in 2009, and has been part of the Ozark Poetry Slam team for two years.

Hughes has toured across the country and has opened for a variety nationally known acts such as Saul Williams and Otep.

Hughes currently resides in Fayetteville, Ark., where he is part of the planning committee for IWPS 2012.

For more on Hughes, visit:
www.HoustonHughes.tk
www.reverbnation.com/PoetryByHouston
www.facebook.com/PoetryByHouston

Sedona Poetry Slam

To compete in the slam, poets prepare at least three original poems, each three minutes long or shorter. No props, costumes or musical accompaniment are permitted. All types of poetry are welcome.

The slam will be hosted by Graham, who represented Northern Arizona on six FlagSlam National Poetry Slams in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010 and 2012.

In no particular order, the poets for Saturday are Jeremiah Blue, Charles Levett, Jackson Morris, Bert Cisneros, Joshua Wiss, Gabrielle Lee, The Klute, Joy Young, Evan Dissinger, Maya Hall, Gary Every, Valence and Austin Reeves. Sorbet: Jackie Stockwell. Calibration: Josh Floyd and Taylor Hayes. The list is currently full, but seats are still available, click here to buy your tickets now.

What is Poetry Slam?

Founded in Chicago in 1984, poetry slam is a competitive artistic sport. Poetry slams are judged by five randomly chosen members of the audience who assign numerical value to individual poets' contents and performances.

Poetry slam has become an international artistic sport, with more than 100 major poetry slams in the United States, Canada, Australia and Western Europe.

All types of poetry are welcome on the stage, from street-wise hip-hop and narrative performance poems, to political rants and introspective confessionals. Any poem is a "slam" poem if performed in a competition. All poets get three minutes per round to entertain their audience with their creativity.

2013 Sedona National Poetry Slam Team

Last year, five poets represented Sedona at the week-long National
Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C. In August 2013, NPS will be held in
Boston and Cambridge, Mass. Will you be among them? Or will you
help choose who represents Red Rock Country in Beantown?

Competing poets earn points with each Sedona Poetry Slam performance between September and May. Every poet earns 1 point for performing or hosting. First place earns 3 additional points, second place earns 2 and third place earns 1.

Based on points, the top 12 poets in May are eligible to compete for the four slots on the Sedona Poetry Slam Team, which will represent the community and Studio Live at the 2013 National Poetry Slam in Boston. Poets can compete for multiple teams during a season and still be eligible to compete in the Sedona team.

For poetry slam standings, videos from past slams, and updates, visit foxthepoet.blogspot.com.

Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 the day of the event, available at Golden Word Books and Music, 3150 W. SR 89A, and online at studiolivesedona.com.

Click here to buy your tickets now.

Studio Live is located at 215 Coffee Pot Drive, West Sedona. For more information, call (928) 282-2688.

"Verballistics: Issue 1" awesome digital zine published three of my poems

My friend Verbal Kensington in Flagstaff has just published her first zine anthology, "Verballistics: Issue 1" featuring poetry, art and prose from artists all over the country.

 The online version is wicked cool. Every poem and prose piece is paired with art to complement it and with this tool bar you can move around and zoom in, just like you were looking at a real print edition:

 And for any page turned on its side, hit the eye to view it right side up.

Three of my poems are include, "They Held Hands," "To the Planet Formerly Known as Pluto," and "Ragnarok." The photo for "Ragnarok" includes an image of Mathias Rust landing his plane in Red Square.

Open publication - Free publishing - More art

"Verballistics: is a publishing endeavor which, like poetry itself, defies definition. ​​ We believe that life is poetry, and we are all poets. We promote work which blends the lines between art and literature, and pushes the boundaries of traditional publishing. Our contributors have a message to share with the world - whether it's a shout from the mountaintops, or a whispered secret which somehow cradles the universal in us all. We are devoted to the artistry of language. We celebrate the experimental. We honor the linguistic lexicon, and the vernacular virtuoso. ​ ​We'd love to help you Get Verbal!"

The publication includes a copy of my poem, "They Held Hands:"

Fire dancing and the Names of Trees

For a Dia de los Muertos performance at Tlaquepaque in Sedona with the Sedona Sacred Circus fire troupe, of which Azami is a fire dancer. A trio began the poem acting like monkeys and wild animals until one discovered how to use fire, like the rest of the dancers and spun fire for the rest of the poem. Bradley Blalock, Vusi Shibambo and James Turner performed percussion with Jason Vargo on sound.

Kyle, Lynn and Azami of the Sedona Sacred Circus perform in Tlaquepaque for Dia de los Muertos.

The Names of Trees

before we named the trees
we feared the dark
ran from the shadows
monsters stalked us
in daytime’s tall grasses
and nighttime’s nightmares

we feared fire most of all
it ate the unnamed trees alive
its breath choked the beasts we hunted
we could not hold it
and could not fight it
just fear it

but one of us
The First of us
saw an infant spark
and treated it like a child
she learned to wield it
our first tool
brought it into the caves
and taught us not to fear
but use it
to chase away the monsters

fire is always the same
because a flame is never the same
from moment to moment
by always changing
the flame never changes

with fire
we learned to control the shadows
we danced them onto cave walls
where we trapped the monsters in ocher and ash

we used the fire to keep the beasts away in the night
to cook the bounty gathered from the earth
and roast our meat from the day’s hunt

and with bellies full
in the glow of the fire
we learned language
around campfires
as our elders told stories
of their young days long passed
they told us the names of trees:
oak
ash
banyan
pine
bodhi
fir
palm
cedar
sugi
cypress
they spoke of the strong mothers who raised them
the great hunts of their brave fathers
how they leaned ways to teach us these things

they told us
of ancestors who had long since turned to bones
and were now dust
who had sprinkled themselves across the heavens
to watch over us
always
glowing in the dark
like flames in the night

when the fire in their own hearts
began to flicker
they asked us to built fires to mourn their death
help ascend their bodies
so they could watch over us from new stars
alongside their ancestors

around the fire
we learned to structure nouns and verbs
into rhythm and beat
rhyme and stanza
turning the articulation of breath
the staccato of consonants
the tone and pitch of air in living lungs
into the art of poetry
stories we could pass from generation to generation
long after the first lungs to hold them
were silent beneath the dirt
we still tell some of those stories
passing along the poetry
of heroes
who are no longer bones
no longer dust
but vapor in the wind

around the fire
we passed on what we had learned
to the children who would mourn us
consider these frail lifeless bones still sacred
because they once held them
in their infancy

long after our bones turned to dust
and the dust turned to vapor
and the vapor exhaled by something new
they would remember … us
in the stories around the fire

a ribbon of flesh and fire
tied us to the infant spark
that The First one of us
held without fear

fire is always the same
because a flame is never the same
from moment to moment
by always changing
the flame never changes

it is consumption and combustion
a moment of reaction
between earth and air
the tangible and ethereal
in a spark of life
never the same from one second the next

nothing is eternal but change
so our civilizations learn to adapt
like tongues of flame
growing together or apart
rising and falling
expanding and shrinking
dancing in a campfire

we sometimes forget that lesson
so our empires defy it
our monuments stand against it
our great cities are abandoned
for new homes
Sumeria
is now just artifacts
Assyria
has become Scrabble word
31 dynasties ruled Egypt,
each falling to the next
the dream of Rome
became a dream again
the sun never set on the British Empire
until the day it did
and young America too
will grow old into history books
but the fire will still be the same
because a flame is never the same
from moment to moment

even now
in the glow of digital screens
behind the wheel of combustion engines
or miles above the earth
in steel aircraft
or space stations
we are still mesmerized by the flame
we gather around fireplaces on holidays
remembering the ancient reasons for things
we light wax candles for dead loved ones
hoping whispered words
might rise to their ears in the heavens
where they watch us
alongside ancestors

we find ourselves
still captivated by campfires
staring into them
unable to look away sometimes
while we tell stories
just like we used to
when home
wasn’t made from stone and brick
or animal skins from last year’s hunt
but the warmest cave
on our nomadic trek
following the herds
teaching our children
the names of trees

some day
when we no longer fear the dark
a descendant of the flame that first warmed us
as we lay dreaming of stars
will help send a few of us
beyond the reach of Earth
never again to see this home
more will follow
using flickers of fire
to pass the boundaries
break the laws of gravity
that we will refuse to obey any longer
and sail across the night
unafraid of the monsters we left behind
trapped on cave walls beneath ocher and ash
they will make their homes
on marbles of every color
swirling in the dusty arms of space
and in the wildernesses of new worlds
they will name new trees
tell stories around campfires of ancestors
strong mothers
brave fathers

fire is always the same
because a flame is never the same
from moment to moment
by always changing
the flame never changes

some day
when “human”
means something else entirely
and whomever we become
sails on the winds of supernovas
finds no fear exploring black holes
the last place darkness can hide from us

they may communicate the poetry quasars and quarks
with the same beauty as verbs and nouns
but still stare at the surface of suns
and without explanation why
know the fire burning before them
is still wonderful to witness
because in the glimmer of a memory
dancing with the arithmetic of orbiting atoms
and the geometry of galaxies
they can feel something deep in their bones
tying them like a ribbon of flesh and flame across time
to a tiny world
whose name they have forgotten
or can no longer pronounce
and remember
somehow,
ancestors who wielded an infant spark
to no longer fear monsters or the dark
but listen around the first campfire
to poetry
and stories
and the names of trees

Houston Hughes features at the Sedona Poetry Slam on Saturday, Nov. 17

Houston Hughes features at the Sedona Poetry Slam on Saturday, Nov. 17

Sedona's Studio Live hosts a poetry slam Saturday, Nov. 17, starting at 7:30 p.m. featuring Fayetteville, Ark., poet Houston Hughes and hosted by Sedona poet Christopher Fox Graham.

All poets are welcome to compete for the $75 grand prize and $25 second-place prize. The prize is funded in part by a donation from Verde Valley poetry supporter Jeanne Freeland.

The slam is the first of the 2012-13 season, which will culminate in selection of Sedona's second National Poetry Slam Team, the foursome and alternate who will represent the city at the National Poetry Slam in Boston and Cambridge, Mass., in August. (Assuming, of course, the Mayans don't destroy the world in December 2012. Or the  Québécois in January 2013. If you thought the Mayan calendar was apocalyptic, just wait until the Québécois get their shot ....)

The local poets will share the stage with 300 of the top poets in the United States, Canada and Europe, pouring out their words in a weeklong explosion of expression.

Sedona sent its five-poet first team to the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C.

Sedona's Studio Live hosts a poetry slam Saturday, Nov. 17, starting at
7:30 p.m. featuring poet Houston Hughes from Fayetteville, Ark.

Houston Hughes

Houston Hughes was introduced to poetry slam in 2006, and by 2010 had made finals stage at the Individual World Poetry Slam, placing him among the top 12 performance poets in the world.

In the time in between, he won individual recognition at the 2008 College Union Poetry Slam Invitational tournament, led the Hendrix College team to win the Region 12 championship in 2009, and has been part of the Ozark Poetry Slam team for two years.

Hughes has toured across the country and has opened for a variety nationally known acts such as Saul Williams and Otep.

Hughes currently resides in Fayetteville, Ark., where he is part of the planning committee for IWPS 2012.

For more on Hughes, visit:
www.HoustonHughes.tk
www.reverbnation.com/PoetryByHouston
www.facebook.com/PoetryByHouston

Sedona Poetry Slam

To compete in the slam, poets need at least three original poems, each three minutes long or shorter. No props, costumes or musical accompaniment are permitted. All types of poetry are welcome.

The slam will be hosted by Graham, who represented Northern Arizona on six FlagSlam National Poetry Slams in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010 and 2012.

Contact Graham at foxthepoet@yahoo.com to sign up to slam.

What is Poetry Slam?

Founded in Chicago in 1984, poetry slam is a competitive artistic sport. Poetry slams are judged by five randomly chosen members of the audience who assign numerical value to individual poets' contents and performances.

Poetry slam has become an international artistic sport, with more than 100 major poetry slams in the United States, Canada, Australia and Western Europe.

All types of poetry are welcome on the stage, from street-wise hip-hop and narrative performance poems, to political rants and introspective confessionals. Any poem is a "slam" poem if performed in a competition. All poets get three minutes per round to entertain their audience with their creativity.

2013 Sedona National Poetry Slam Team

Last year, five poets represented Sedona at the week-long National
Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C. In August 2013, NPS will be held in
Boston and Cambridge, Mass. Will you be among them? Or will you
help choose who represents Red Rock Country in Beantown?

Competing poets earn points with each Sedona Poetry Slam performance between September and May. Every poet earns 1 point for performing or hosting. First place earns 3 additional points, second place earns 2 and third place earns 1.

Based on points, the top 12 poets in May are eligible to compete for the four slots on the Sedona Poetry Slam Team, which will represent the community and Studio Live at the 2013 National Poetry Slam in Boston. Poets can compete for multiple teams during a season and still be eligible to compete in the Sedona team.

For poetry slam standings, videos from past slams, and updates, visit foxthepoet.blogspot.com.

Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 the day of the event, available at Golden Word Books and Music, 3150 W. SR 89A, and online at studiolivesedona.com.

Studio Live is located at 215 Coffee Pot Drive, West Sedona. For more information, call (928) 282-2688.

Arizona will name a Poet Laureate: Let's nominate Phoenix poet Bill Campana

The state of Arizona will name a Poet Laureate in 2013. Let's make sure it's Bill Campana, a prolific poet, veteran slammer and everyone's favorite uncle.

I will be writing a nomination as a representative of the Sedona slam scene. Other slam poets have offered to do the same. Join us.

Click here to help us make this happen.

Why should Bill Campana be Arizona's Poet Laureate?

Before Campana blazed into the Mesa and Phoenix poetry scene in 1997, individuals would attend poetry readings and at the end of every dry, polished piece of mental origami, read with all the flair of a zoning law variance, those still awake in the audience would say "humph." Poets would get a smattering of courtesy applause, and everyone would go home feeling just a little more cultured than their neighbors who owned television sets.

Campana, however, knows that the only true way to respect culture is to break it into little tiny pieces. He came onto the poetry scene at full power, and suddenly the dry dusty notebooks of lesser poets got burned up in the shockwave.

Campana is the atom bomb that levels ivory towers. He got people excited enough about poetry to come back for more, and to see what would happen next. Soon, the audience was too big for the coffeehouse, a feat unprecedented since Socrates dared the baristas to make him a hemlock frappuchino.
Campana began writing poetry at the age of 17, quit at 22 because he realized that he had nothing to say. Twenty years later, he picked up where he left off, soon ran out of things to say again but has not stopped writing.

A member of five Mesa National Poetry Slam Teams, Campana has been to the semi-finals of the National Poetry Slam twice. He has hosted and featured across the Southwest, and continues to write at a feverish pace, always challenging fellow poets to better their craft on the page and the stage.

Campana takes elements of other art forms and applies them to his poetry. Although audiences can't hear the music, he insists it's in there in tributes to composition. Although audiences can't see the paintings and photographs they are there behind the words. Campana currently lives on the fine line that separates the page from the stage. From there he can reach people from both spectrums of modern poetry.

Campana runs the weekly Sound Effects poetry open mic called in Phoenix.

Campana also recently released a compilation album, "The Hit List," that features 94 poems composed over the last 10 years of his performance career in Phoenix.

His work has also been made into a short film:

A young lady visits a piercing parlor and gets more than she bargained for.

Directed by Matt Gismondi

Poem and Voiceover by Bill Campana

Starring David Tabor and Lauren Perry

Arizona Poet Laureate

The Arizona Commission on the Arts, an agency of the State of Arizona, today launches the nomination process for the inaugural Arizona Poet Laureate.

At the start of the last legislative session, Arizona was one of only 8 states without a poet laureate. The Arts Commission and the Arizona literary community worked in close partnership with State Senator Al Melvin during the Fiftieth Legislature’s second regular session, to put forth a bill establishing a poet laureate post for the State of Arizona. On May 11, 2012, Governor Jan Brewer signed SB1348 into law, and October marks the beginning of the nomination, review and selection process.


Jaime Dempsey, Deputy Director of the Arts Commission, said of the process, “It is our hope that the appointed Arizona Poet Laureate will champion the art of American poetry, inspire an emerging generation of literary artists, and educate Arizonans about poets and authors who have influenced our state through creative literary expression.”
The bill specifies that the appointed poet laureate will serve a term of two years; will offer public readings throughout the year, in both urban and rural communities in various regions of the state; and will pursue a major literary project over the course of the appointment term.

The Arizona Poet Laureate will be provided with an annual honorarium of $2,500 to offset travel and so that he/she is able to actively serve the broadest constituency of Arizonans, who live, learn and work in urban, rural and suburban areas of the state. The honorarium will be disbursed from the Arizona Poet Laureate Fund, which consists of private monies donated by individuals, organizations or businesses – raised by the Arts Commission and its statewide literary partners.

Interested parties may nominate themselves or others for the position of Arizona Poet Laureate through a process managed by the Arizona commission on the Arts. The initial deadline for nominations is November 9, 2012. To review details and information regarding the nomination/application and selection process, visit http://www.azarts.gov/azpoetlaureate.

“We would like to recognize and thank Arizona Senator Al Melvin, who introduced the bill and shepherded it through the legislative process, and to our partners in arts advocacy, the Arizona Citizens for the Arts for helping to see this bill through to success,” said Bob Booker, Executive Director. 

Read the bill, here. 

About the Arizona Commission on the Arts

One of 56 state and jurisdictional arts agencies across the United States, the Arizona Commission on the Arts is an agency of the State of Arizona that supports a statewide arts network. The Arizona Commission on the Arts supports access to quality arts and arts education opportunities for all Arizona citizens; the development and retention of statewide jobs in the nonprofit arts, culture and education sectors; and increased economic impact in local communities through arts-based partnerships that develop tax and small business revenue.

For more information about the grants, services and programs of the Arizona Commission on the Arts, visit www.azarts.gov.

We imagine an Arizona where everyone can participate in and experience the arts.

Ryan Brown wins the first 2012-13 Sedona Poetry Slam

Photo by Tara Graeber

Ryan Brown, of Flagstaff, wins the Oct. 13, 2012 Sedona Poetry Slam.

Ryan Brown wins the first Sedona Poetry Slam of the 2012-13 National Poetry Slam Season, held Oct. 13, 2012.

Round 1
Random Draw

Calibration: Jackie Stockwell, of Flagstaff

Lynn Gravatt, of Sedona, 18.7, 1:40
Ryan Brown, of Flagstaff, 25.9, 3:03
The Klute, of Phoenix, 23.2, 2:06
Lauren Deja, of Phoenix, 24.8, 2:13
Evan Dissinger, of Flagstaff, 24.1, 2:43
Bert Cisneros, of Cottonwood, 23.7, 1:33
Ashley Swazey, of Phoenix, 24.8, 1:55
Rowie Shebala, of Phoenix, 23.0, 2:45
Little Blue Lyon-Fish, of Phoenix, 22.9, 2:39
Austin Reeves, of Flagstaff, 23.6, 2:29
Vincent Vega, of Flagstaff, 25.1, 2:22
Lauren Perry, of Phoenix, 23.8, 23.3 after 0.5 time penalty, 3:13
Josh Wiss, of Flagstaff/Phoenix, 25.3, 1:59

Sorbet: Christopher Fox Graham, of Sedona, "The Golden Record"

Round 2
Reverse Order

Josh Wiss, of Flagstaff/Phoenix, 26.5, 1:39, 51.8
Lauren Perry, of Phoenix, 26.4, 2:30, 49.7
Vincent Vega, of Flagstaff, 22.5, 1:51, 47.6
Austin Reeves, of Flagstaff, 23.0, 2:53, 46.6
Little Blue Lyon-Fish, of Phoenix, 26.2, 2:55, 49.1
Rowie Shebala, of Phoenix, 26.2, 2:04, 49.2
Ashley Swazey, of Phoenix, 26.8., 28.3 after 0.5 time penalty, 3:17, 51.1
Bert Cisneros, of Cottonwood, 25.5, 1:56, 49.2
Evan Dissinger, of Flagstaff, 26.4, 2:32, 50.5
Lauren Deja, of Phoenix, 25.8, 2:46, 50.6
The Klute, of Phoenix, 29.5, 2:34, 52.7
Ryan Brown, of Flagstaff, 28.6, 2:43, 54.5
Lynn Gravatt, of Sedona, 25.3, 1:23, 44.0

Photo by Tara Graeber

Nodalone, of Las Vegas, featured at the Oct. 13, 2012 Sedona Poetry Slam.

Feature: Nodalone, of Las Vegas, Nev.

Sorbet: Charles Levett, of Phoenix

Round 3
High to Low

Ryan Brown, of Flagstaff, 27.0, 2:06, 81.5
The Klute, of Phoenix, 26.3, 1:22, 79.0
Josh Wiss, of Flagstaff/Phoenix, 26.6, 1:47, 78.4
Ashley Swazey, of Phoenix, 26.0, 2:21, 77.1
Lauren Deja, of Phoenix, 25.4, 1:54, 76.0

Sorbet: Jeremiah Blue, of Phoenix

Victory: Ryan Brown, of Flagstaff

Final Scores

1 Ryan Brown, of Flagstaff, 81.5
2 The Klute, of Phoenix, 79.0
3 Josh Wiss, of Flagstaff/Phoenix, 78.4
4 Ashley Swazey, of Phoenix, 77.1
5 Lauren Deja, of Phoenix, 76.0

6 Evan Dissinger, of Flagstaff, 50.5
7 Lauren Perry, of Phoenix,  49.7
8 Rowie Shebala, of Phoenix, 49.2
8 Bert Cisneros, of Cottonwood,  49.2
10 Little Blue Lyon-Fish, of Phoenix,  49.1
11 Vincent Vega, of Flagstaff, 47.6
12 Austin Reeves, of Flagstaff,  46.6
13 Lynn Gravatt, of Sedona,  44.0

Scorekeeper and camerawoman: Azami

Sedona National Poetry Slam Team
Slamoff Point Standings
4 points
Ryan Brown, of Flagstaff✓
3 points
The Klute, of Phoenix
2 points
Josh Wiss, of Flagstaff/Phoenix
1 point
Jeremiah Blue, of Phoenix*

Bert Cisneros, of Cottonwood
Lauren Deja, of Phoenix
Evan Dissinger, of Flagstaff
Christopher Fox Graham, of Sedona
Lynn Gravatt, of Sedona
Charles Levett, of Phoenix*
Little Blue Lyon-Fish, of Phoenix
nodalone, of Las Vegas
Lauren Perry, of Phoenix
Austin Reeves, of Flagstaff
Rowie Shebala, of Phoenix
Ashley Swazey, of Phoenix
Vincent Vega, of Flagstaff
0.5 points
Jackie Stockwell, of Flagstaff

✓ = won a Sedona Poetry Slam
*=Due to a communication error that was totally my fault, these two poets contacted me early enough to slam, as such and in deferrence to their dedication, they earn a full participation point for this slam.

First three slams of the 2012-13 Sedona Poetry Slam Season

2012-13 Sedona Poetry Slam Season

• Saturday, October 13
  Feature: Nodalone, Las Vegas, Nev.
• Saturday, November 17
  Feature: Houston Hughes, Fayetteville, Ark. 
• Saturday, December  1
  Feature: Jordan Ranft, Santa Rosa, Calif.

Buy your tickets now for the Sedona Poetry Slam on Saturday, Oct. 13

Buy your tickets now for the Sedona Poetry Slam on Saturday, Oct. 13

Click here to buy your tickets now.

Sedona's Studio Live hosts a poetry slam Saturday, Oct. 13, starting at 7:30 p.m. featuring Las Vegas poet Nodalone and hosted by Sedona poet Christopher Fox Graham.

All poets are welcome to compete for the $75 grand prize and $25 second-place prize. The prize is funded in part by a donation from Verde Valley poetry supporter Jeanne Freeland.

The slam is the first of the 2012-13 season, which will culminate in selection of Sedona's second National Poetry Slam Team, the foursome and alternate who will represent the city at the National Poetry Slam in Boston and Cambridge, Mass., in August. (Assuming, of course, the Mayans don't destroy the world in December 2012. Or the  Québécois in January 2013. If you thought the Mayan calendar was apocalyptic, just wait until the Québécois get their shot ....)

The local poets will share the stage with 300 of the top poets in the United States, Canada and Europe, pouring out their words in a weeklong explosion of expression.

Sedona sent its five-poet first team to the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C.

Nodalone

Nodalone - Shaun Srivistava - is the first featured poet of the Sedona
Poetry Slam Season. Nodalone will feature Saturday, Oct. 13.

Nodalone — born Shaun Srivastava — is a spoken word artist currently residing in Las Vegas. While quietly writing for years, Nodalone began performing his work in late 2010 in Flagstaff. Ever since, the poet has continued to bring his poems to life on stage at slams and various events throughout the country.

Preferring to use his platform to address current political, cultural and social issues, Nodalone gives a performance that captures the power of the issue with a personal and passionate style.

Nodalone is the 2011 FlagSlam Grand Slam Champion and a member of both the 2011 and 2012 FlagSlam National Poetry Slam Teams.

He prefers hugs to handshakes, and is a raging baby animal enthusiast.

Sedona Poetry Slam

To compete in the slam, poets need at least three original poems, each three minutes long or shorter. No props, costumes or musical accompaniment are permitted. All types of poetry are welcome.

The slam will be hosted by Graham, who represented Northern Arizona on six FlagSlam National Poetry Slams in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010 and 2012.

Contact Graham at foxthepoet@yahoo.com to sign up to slam.

What is Poetry Slam?

Founded in Chicago in 1984, poetry slam is a competitive artistic sport. Poetry slams are judged by five randomly chosen members of the audience who assign numerical value to individual poets' contents and performances.

Poetry slam has become an international artistic sport, with more than 100 major poetry slams in the United States, Canada, Australia and Western Europe.

All types of poetry are welcome on the stage, from street-wise hip-hop and narrative performance poems, to political rants and introspective confessionals. Any poem is a "slam" poem if performed in a competition. All poets get three minutes per round to entertain their audience with their creativity.

2013 Sedona National Poetry Slam Team

Last year, five poets represented Sedona at the week-long National
Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C. In August 2013, NPS will be held in
Boston and Cambridge, Mass. Will you be among them? Or will you
help choose who represents Red Rock Country in Beantown?

Competing poets earn points with each Sedona Poetry Slam performance between September and May. Every poet earns 1 point for performing or hosting. First place earns 3 additional points, second place earns 2 and third place earns 1.

Based on points, the top 12 poets in May are eligible to compete for the four slots on the Sedona Poetry Slam Team, which will represent the community and Studio Live at the 2013 National Poetry Slam in Boston. Poets can compete for multiple teams during a season and still be eligible to compete in the Sedona team.

For poetry slam standings, videos from past slams, and updates, visit foxthepoet.blogspot.com.

Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 the day of the event, available  online at studiolivesedona.com.

Click here to buy your tickets now.

Studio Live is located at 215 Coffee Pot Drive, West Sedona. For more information, call (928) 282-2688.

"The Golden Record" by Christopher Fox Graham

This audio recording of Bulgarian folk sing Valya Balkanska performing “Izlel e Delyu Haydutin,” is one of several songs on the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes.

"The Golden Record"
A poem for the Voyager 1 & 2 spacecraft

By Christopher Fox Graham

Valya Balanska

in 60,000 years
when the human race is extinct
racing at a geologic pace to fossilize ourselves
next to dinosaurs
Valya Balkanska will still be singing
she may be the last
and only voice
the galaxy knows of our species

to tell her story
I must begin at the beginning:
we all shared the same neighborhood once
when matter didn’t matter so much
but FLASH-BANG! scattered us
like children
from doors of school
on the last day before summer
some stayed close to home
while others wanted to see how far away they could run

and when they began to pick up the pieces
they clung to each other so tightly
you could feel the gravity of it all
but these rocky asteroids and gas giants
comets of ice and terrestrials covered in methane or argon
stare across the vacuum playing telephone with each other
and wonder if they’ll ever touch again

can you hear them?
they speak slow
some syllables take millions of years to finish
but out in the black
are so many lost marbles
they number a billion billion for each one of us here
they, too, were born blind in the dark
wondering, “what is this place”“
and “where did I come from?”
they cling to the nearest glowing stars
like lost children
terrified to be alone

The Voyager spacecraft, launched in 1977.

among the sea
in a stretch of nebula
on one of those marbles
unremarkable in its ordinariness
a thump-pulse of moving things speaks so fast
the planets can’t understand the gibberish
but they love the sound of it all
it reminds them of a split moment in lost memory
when we all were dancing on the head of a pinprick

those creatures, they say,
have sent ambassadors into the stars
riding radio waves in images and sounds
but we have no way to answer, just to listen
a few constructions of metal
have sailed into the dark bearing their dreams
like messages in bottles
so if they annihilate themselves
in a flash of fire
or by eating up all the matter on which they survive
something will remain to prove
there was some magic once

The Golden Record with encoded messages about how to play it,
Earth's location triangulated with 14 pulsars, and information about
the hydrogen atom to give a point of measurement reference.

on one of those lost satellites called Voyager
now 18 billion miles away from a home
it will never see again
is a golden record
and instructions to play it
so if, in eons hence
on some other marble, wiser life sprouts
and in their wild youth,
breaks the laws of gravity
they may find it floating wandering in the dark
and hear the sounds

of us

those alien discoverers may not get past the wonder
of greetings in 55 different human languages
saying in Begali “Hello! Let there be peace everywhere.”
or in Indonesian “Good night ladies and gentlemen.” and
“Goodbye and see you next time.”
after hearing “Johnny B. Goode”
they may crusade the stars
searching for Earth
and more Chuck Berry
they may listen over and over
to the perfect precision of Beethovan’s 5th symphony
or the unleased joy in the Peruvian wedding song

1½ tons of metal
weighing nothing in the ether
carries our billion conversations
every love story
every epic poem
every genocide and celebrity wedding
every nation to rise and fall
every miracle
manmade or otherwise

1½ tons of metal
carries the weight of 10,000 years of human history
on a record barely an hour long

But when they hear Valya Balkanska sing“Izlel e Delyu Haydutin,”
our evolution and extinction will not have been in vain

those alien discoverers
may not have tears

but they will know we did

they may not understand grief

but the first sound they utter afterward

will become it

they will understand
why we could not bear to be alone
when there were so many lost marbles
aching to feel footsteps
the touch of stargazing strangers
they will know there was good in us

and they may even call us 

“brothers”

to the creatures who find Voyager:

you may not have a song to mourn your dead

but as Valya’s haunting melody

and the Bulgarian pipes

retch all the sorrow of a million human generations 

into the stars one last time

you have a mourning song now

and Valya,

Valya will sing it for us

Visit GoldenRecord.org, where you can see and hear everything aboard the Voyager 1 & 2 spacecrafts.

For more information about the Voyager mission and their discoveries, click here.

Bulgarian lyrics

Излел е Делю хайдутин,
хайдутин ян кеседжия
с Домбовци и Караджовци.
Зароча Дельо пороча
Дериденските аяне,
айяне, кабадаие:
- Две лели имам в селоно,
да ми ги не потурчите,
да ми ги не почърните,
че кога флезем в селоно,
млого щат майки да плачат,
по-млого млади нивести,
дете ще в корем проплака.

Гюлсюме Делю заръча:
- Варди са, Делю, чувай са,
канят са да та примажат,
деридеренски аяне,
аяне, кабадаие:
сребърен куршум ти леят,
та ще та, Делю, удрият.
- Гюлсюме, любе Гюлсюме,
не са е родил чилякън,
дену ще Деля примаже.

English translation

Deljo the hayduk went out,
the hayduk, the rebel
with the Dumbovi and the Karadjovi clans.
Deljo gave the following orders
to the brazen-faced governors of Zlatograd:
- "There are two aunts of mine in the village.
Do not make them Turks,
do not besmirch them,
because when I come back
a lot of mothers will cry,
a lot of young brides,
and unborn children."

Gyulsume told Deljo:
- "Beware, Deljo, beware,
you are being threatened, Deljo
the Zlatograd rulers,
the brazen-faced governors,
they cast a silver bullet
for you, Deljo, to kill you."

- "Gyulsume, my love Gyulsume,
not yet is born a man
who could kill me."