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Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Storytelling Pride Day

(I totally made that up, I just needed a title)

I am the girl who lives to tell the tale.
I was a voice in the darkness
in a room filled with people and gold
(I was not trying to be mysterious. The power went out at the museum.)
I was a Renaissance lady
I was a Roman matron
I was an archer from the past that never was,
I was a sailor on a lake
I was a guitar and a song on the shore
I was a ghost by the campfire
(the boys went to the bathroom in groups for days)
I am the stuff of legends
(for K through 4 anyway)
I am the real deal
I can pull a forest up by their roots
or at least I know the guy who could
I am a wanderer
I am a magpie
I am a butterfly, and sometimes a Moth,
I am a Storyteller
by any other name
Mesemondó
Cuentacuentos
Cuentera
Narradora
I am not a Performance Artist
I definitely do not read books for children
I come from the Land of Dragon Riders
with an unrecognizable accent
(Czechoslovakia is gone, people, and Sokovia is not a country)
I am a terrible actress
but I have lived the 1001 Nights
and talked to Scheherazade in the end
(that was one fun WoD campaign)
I can quote from Gilgamesh
and sometimes from Firefly
I know what makes a lightsaber green
and I know how Anansi got a wife
I have walked the streets of Rome
I have walked the streets of Toledo
I have walked the streets of Vienna
I have not walked the streets of Johnson City because there are no sidewalks
well that’s just the USA
I know that Black Dogs don’t bite
and I know a Trickster when I see one
believe me I see many
some call them problem children
I want to see them say that to Coyote’s face
(wait, is that his f… nevermind)
I have five hours of material in my repertoire
somewhere
buried under Journey to the West, probably
I can make a teenager cry
and an adult laugh
and a child tell stories of her own
I sit on the teacher’s desk
no grading on my watch
I leave messages in library books
I turn my papers in before the deadline
I dance my shoes to pieces every contra night
I have a license to ILL
(overloaded the library system, Houston we have a problem)
I know how to hold a sword properly
I believe in Ginger World Domination
(mark feedback “Attn.: Thor”)
I have a thing for gemstones, but only the ones with stories
and read everything Mark Twain ever wrote
because Mark Twain
I believe rap is the closest thing to Homer’s Iliad
and that the answer is 42
I knew what a Kappa was before Harry Potter
and wanted to be Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Story Girl
I really did
I thought I had to be an actress for that
dammit Lucy Maud
I told stories about beer to the tech people after the children left
I told stories
in castles
at the feet of Inca gods
in the line to the face painter
in a boat
on a boat
under a boat
I know that there are hundreds of professional mermaids in the USA
and people still laugh about storytelling
yes I get paid for it
but even if I didn’t
well I do
and we all know what happened to patrons who did not pay the bard
they grew donkey ears
(kids love that they really do)
it takes an astronomer to read the stars
and a folklorist to make Aarne and Thompson roll over in their grave
and a graphic artist to paint a dragon in two minutes
and a biologist to tell me sharks have no gills
and a Scandinavian Studies major to drool all over Viking werewolves
where would I be without them
not the werewolves
the friends
duh
Wandering is not about never having a home
it is about having a home everywhere
even in Camelot
“See you on the road”

8 comments:

  1. Love this imagery, Csenge! So, you're a poet, too? I'm not a bit surprised!

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  2. true and beautifully said. green with jealousy of all your travels and the places you've told; in awe of the length and breadth of your knowledge; proud to be in the same world as you. very happy that you have had these experiences and even happier that you share them with us. May your Journey and journeys continue to be filled with wonder and success.

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  3. Thank you so much! :)
    I have been known to commit poetry every once in a while, but never took it seriously. This one just kind of happened :)

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  4. and you didn't even mention the woman who ate the gate.
    But brilliant just the same

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  5. Wow... just wow... and a sorcerer at the heart of creation, too :-)

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  6. We should declare August 6th Storytelling Pride Day! We need one and August needs soomething special in it.--Jane

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  7. Thank you all :) I am glad you like the poem.
    I am all for celebrating storytelling as many times a year as we can! :)

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