Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EST November 12th 2021

6 Comments

Thank you to everyone who joined for this session!

For this session we close-read the poem Deer Dance Exhibition by Ofelia Zepeda, posted below.

Our prompt for this session was: “Question…”

More details on this session will be posted, so check back!

Participants are warmly encouraged to share what you wrote below (“Leave a Reply”), to keep the conversation going here, bearing in mind that the blog of course is a public space where confidentiality is not assured.

Also, we would love to learn more about your experience of these sessions, so if you’re able, please take the time to fill out a follow-up survey of one to two quick questions!

Take the Survey!

Please join us for our next session Monday November 15th at 6pm EDT, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions page.

Deer Dance Exhibition by Ofelia Zepeda

Question: Can you tell us about what he is wearing?
Well, the hooves represent the deer’s hooves,
the red scarf represents the flowers from which he ate,
the shawl is for skin.
The cocoons make the sound of the deer walking on leaves and grass.
Listen.
Question: What is that he is beating on?
It’s a gourd drum. The drum represents the heartbeat of the deer.
Listen.
When the drum beats, it brings the deer to life.
We believe the water the drum sits in is holy. It is life.
Go ahead, touch it.
Bless yourself with it.
It is holy. You are safe now.
Question: How does the boy become a dancer?
He just knows. His mother said he had dreams when he was just a little boy.
You know how that happens. He just had it in him.
Then he started working with older men who taught him how to dance.
He has made many sacrifices for his dancing even for just a young boy.
The people concur, “Yes, you can see it in his face.”
Question: What do they do with the money we throw them?
Oh, they just split it among the singers and dancer.
They will probably take the boy to McDonald’s for a burger and fries.
The men will probably have a cold one.
It’s hot today, you know.


Ofelia Zepeda, “Deer Dance Exhibiton” from Ocean Power. 
Copyright © 1995 by Ofelia Zepeda.

6 thoughts on “Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EST November 12th 2021”

  1. Patricia D.

    As a child I could not help myself but to question.
    At times my inquiries were viewed as intrusive,
    but question I did.
    Sometimes I was shushed when I asked.
    Yet, that did not stop me.
    I searched for answers in books
    only to have more questions..
    Much later my inquisitive mind was honored
    With other questions that had no answers.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • Scarlet Kinney

      Question:
      What does it mean that
      The deer dances in the deep forest,
      Its blood-red heart pounding like a drum,
      Its sharp hooves silenced
      By the thick mat of pine needles
      Upon which they stamp,
      While drummers and dancers go to McDonalds
      for Big Macs
      And a few cold ones?

      Like

      Reply
  2. michele348

    Questions…

    Question: Where are we as a people?
    Are we understanding of those who look a bit different, who sound a bit different?
    Do we get involved in pre-judgments?
    Judgments of sincerity, of honesty, of intelligence based simply on what our eyes see, our ears hear.

    If so, what a travesty… to discount the value of a human being based simply on personal biases.
    A free world is open to all in its truest sense, a harmony composed by all.
    Maybe this is a pipedream… maybe not.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  3. Tony Errichetti

    Melting Mosaic

    Are we a melting pot or a mosaic?
    Are we either, both, or neither?
    What will be the next metaphor this century for what we multicultural people are?
    What is a metaphor anyway?
    Just a way of expressing something that is too complicated for words.

    Like

    Reply
    • Patricia D.

      Rather than melting into a pot and loosing our identity, or being cut into pieces to be glued back together again, perhaps we can simply be our individual selves formed via multiple influences (culture, genetics, education, etc.) who learn to live together peacefully with an understanding that we are all interconnected.

      As for what is a metaphor, its use allows for an image, rather than a word, to enter the mind to see with clarity what is being described.

      Like

      Reply
  4. Helen Mia

    Prompt: ” Question…”

    Your question can recreate her
    She was in the middle of a story without words to describe it
    Mute, like an imperceptible veil hovering somewhere
    Your question fills her with herself
    Without a question she does not exist
    A question can roar her into existence
    Then it has to be tape-recorded to hold on to time

    An intoxicating meeting at the entrance door
    Time is fading as the batteries have run out
    The right question is a celebration of becoming
    Pure happiness, dancing the dance of the seven veils
    Drowning in a medley of more unanswered questions
    A specific question stirs visibility and arrests time temporarily

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.