title	description
Biography	Anne Burke is a poet, editor and critic, who has published widely, in books, journals, literary magazines. She was Prairie Correspondent for Poetry Canada Review and is Chair of the Feminist Caucus of the League of Canadian Poets.
Wayne Keon: Storm Dancer New!	Review of Storm Dancer, by Wayne Keon (Stratford, Ontario: The Mercury Press, 1993). Wayne Keon is an author, poet, and member of Nipissing First Nation, an Ojibwa tribe. The Nipissing First Nation has lived in the area of Lake Nipissing in Ontario for about 9,400 years. Keon was born in 1946 in Pembroke, Ontario. He grew up in a Northern Ontario mining town during the 1960s and attended Holy Name Irish School. In an online 2023 "Micro Interview" associated with The Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry and McCall McBain Foundation, Keon said "We moved in January 1958 to Elliot Lake, Ontario. My adopted father was Irish (Fermanagh County) and worked in the mines." Orville Keon worked at Denison Mines. Although his father only had a sixth grade education, he was a skilled storyteller and fostered in Wayne an appreciation for literature. "One time when I was quite a bit younger, he gave me a book of the complete works of the greatest poet ever, William Butler Yeats". Keon observes of "Go By Brooks" (a poem by Leonard Cohen), "It sort of got me going on a kind of a native response i.e., using the magic number four of native peoples (the four directions: north, south, east, west; the four seasons: spring, summer, fall, winter...[as inspiration] for “if i ever heard”, a much anthologized poem by Keon. https://poetryinvoice.ca/read/poets/wayne-keon. Keon obtained a business administration degree, in 1969, from the Northern Institute of Technology in Kirkland Lake, Ontario. He has a background as a financial analyst, is seventy-six years of age and has lived in Richmond, Ontario. As of 1976, Keon worked for a mining corporation Rio Algom, which amalgamated with Billiton, and finally BHP Billiton, to become the largest mining corporation in the world. He was able to travel extensively, including in North and South America, Australia and Europe. The company encouraged Keon's writing and gave copies of his books to their South American colleagues studying English. Keon has read his poetry in Canada, the United States, and throughout Europe. His literary work has been published in journals across Canada and widely anthologized. https://en.everybodywiki.com/Wayne_Keon We had the pleasure of publishing Keon's "Spirit Warrior Raven: Dream Winter" and "Spirit Warrior Raven: Emerald Spring", albeit as Fiction in issue #21 with original drawings by A.M. Matejko. Both pieces were published in storm dancer, poems along with a third variation "Spirit Warrior Raven Rainbow Village". All three of the Spirit Warrior Raven oral stories are told in the first-person and ostensibly take place in the land of the Anishinaabe, "a long time ago". "Anishnawbe", most commonly used to describe Ojibwa people, is a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. Elder and linguist Basil H. Johnston maintained that Anishinaabe translates as “Beings Made Out of Nothing” and “Spontaneous Beings.” In 1895, the Indian Act banned various Indigenous ceremonies and events. While Anishinaabe culture and the Anishinaabe language were banished by Residential Schools, Keon strives to reclaim them and more, by adapting the ancient essence to contemporary problems and conflicts. The "fable", also called an "apologue" is a short narrative in prose or poetry that exemplifies an abstract moral thesis or principle of human behaviour; usually at its conclusion, either the narrator or one of the characters states the moral in the form of an epigram. The most common is the beast fable, a very ancient form that existed in Egypt, India, and Greece, in which animals talk and act like the human types they represent. A "trickster" is a character in a story who persistently uses his wiliness, and gift of gab, to achieve his ends by outmanoeuvring or outwitting the other characters. A counterpart in many North American Indian cultures are the beast fables that feature Coyote as the central trickster. (A Glossary of Literary Terms, 7th Edition, by M.H. Abrams, Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999.) The vision quest began a new phase of life, when a boy was visited by an animal, it became his spiritual power, if he learned to converse with the animal during his vigil (Agnes Grant, No End Of Grief, Winnipeg: Pemmican Publications Inc., 1996). In "Spirit Warrior Raven Dream Winter" the Raven Warrior becomes the dancer of his people, when he hears his spirit power speak, "I am trickster and magician of all the people, Raven. I am your strength and power if you be a true spirit warrior. I will be with you always until we meet here once again." This ubiquitous figure, which is neither male nor female (but gender free) is central to all Aboriginal mythology. Story-telling passed on oral histories, myths, legends, or anecdotal tales with important moral or factual teachings. They illustrated ways of meeting dangers in both the social and the natural worlds; having scope, depth, and a number of themes, in some age-appropriate greater depth. (Basil Johnstone, Ojibway Heritage (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1976) cited by Agnes Grant in No End of Grief (1996). Ritual could be simple like prayers or more complex in naming, walking-out ceremonies, and puberty rites, as in the highly structured Ojibway Medewewin. The vision quest began a new phase of life, when a boy was visited by an animal, it became his spiritual power, if he learned to converse with the animal during his vigil. The great mystery will test his strength but also share shamanistic truths with him through drumming as the centre of his people. In " Spirit Warrior Raven Dream Winter" there is risk of death until the Raven Warrior meets up with Willow Woman. In "Spirit Warrior Raven Emerald Spring" she places the essence of the Emerald Spring in his medicine bag. In Spirit Warrior Raven Rainbow Village" he encounters two women, "Many Fires" and "Two Moons". The quest is for a village of four rainbows, an eagle changed into a woman. He suddenly encounters a coyote in the desert. The animal was as large as a man, howling like a dog, but mocking in a human voice, "Have you no tongue with which to speak, Ojibway man!" Aboriginal spirituality centred on the relationship of humanity to the whole of creation, that is a oneness. Therefore, the earth was referred to as "Mother Earth", animals were called brothers and sisters, and otherwise inanimate objects were considered relatives. The Great Spirit moves through all of life and is the Cosmic Order. The spiritual pilgrimage allows for a balance between the physical and the spiritual, as well as a sense of the interdependence and connectedness of all life. (Stan McKay, "Calling Creation into our Family", Nation to Nation: Aboriginal Sovereignty and the Future of Canada Concord, Ontario: Anansi, 1992 p. 29 cited by Agnes Grant, in No End of Grief 1996. The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Midē'wiwin or "Grand Medicine Society" of the Ojibway Walter James Hoffman is an interesting source book. The "Society of the Midē´ or Shamans" consists of an indefinite number of Midē´ of multiple sexes. Among the Ojibwa the function is not a hereditary one of this medicine man, priest, seer, prophet (of which there are several classes). The Ojibwa believe in a multiplicity of spirits, or man´idōs, which inhabit all space and every conspicuous object in nature. This deity is represented in pictography by the eagle. the Thunder-bird (eagle). Thus, the favour of the "Great Thunderer", or "Thunder God", must be invoked and his anger appeased. The title poem "storm dancer" relies on the personification of thunder and wind, dancing "a wild kind of jig", thunder is "drum pounding", "until you/become the dancer", the "black hair/flyin" of the storm dancer is indistinguishable from the raven. Or, as In William Butler Yeats' poem "Among School Children" that poet famously asks "How can we know the dancer from the dance"? The Ojibway were known to travel great distances in search of new songs. All musical selections were originally vocal, some with drum accompaniment, with sacred drums, dancing chants, flute and rattles. Anishinaabe communities have a long tradition of music. Drumming (including hand drumming and powwow drumming) is used for healing and entertainment, and plays a key role in ceremonies. In this inaugural poetry collection, the reader is introduced to the peripatetic lower case and clipped diction, in musical note form; and purposeful simplification of spelling, such as "thru" for "through", "lites" for "lights", "cos" for "because"; along with distinctive dropping of the "a" from "and "g" for "ing"(an epigrammatic quality we have seen in the concrete poetry of bill bisset and b.p. nichol). In the title poem and throughout this collection, "storm dancer" offers deceivingly simple rhymes resulting in a driving rhythm toward ecstasy and spiritual consummation. The poet effectively relies on the device of onomatopoeia, as well as a pattern of metaphysical conceits, authentic simile, implied metaphor, and other figurative language. Parenthetically, shaman, eagle, raven, medicine pouch, stone cache, and all other totemic images and icons are valued. The practice of invocations to the poet's various muses depends on a sudden emotional impetus, although in other instances they effect high formality. In other words, the poet seeks divine intervention to establish the authoritative or prophetic identity of his poetic voice. Keon is fond of the ode, a lyric poem, that is serious in subject and treatment, elevated in style, and elaborate or irregular in its structure. Odes were modelled on the songs by the chorus in Greek drama and may be eulogizistic, written to praise or glorify. The personal ode may express passionate meditation and depict an aspect of the outer scene in an attempt to solve a personal, human emotional problem (A Glossary of Literary Terms, by M.H. Abraham, 1999). The first poem "down to agawa" observes that "time//nd space" are suspended near one of the Great Lakes because a dance through the "old dimension" renders them so. That formidable mountain ("she") is where the persona of the poet sheds his sadness; this form of significant vision quest recovers the great circle. Thus, the poet alludes to those sacred paintings or pictographs "nd fine ojibway dust", since the past is now being evoked. The drum beat and dance are cadenced with dimensions both extended and eluded. He addresses who "took my sadness there", as well as "raven". "Agawa Rock" is a sacred site of the Ojibwa people, the original inhabitants of the region, who still have a presence. The Agawa Rock Pictographs are rock paintings made by Anishinaabe shamans, two or three hundred years ago which can still be seen on the edge of a rock cliff on the edge of Lake Superior. (retrieved online, 18 September 2023). In the poem "heart nd soul", there is a comparison drawn between the toltec jaguar male warrior (and sacred animal counterpart) before the council of priests. "Toltec" means belonging to a member of an indigenous people that flourished in Mexico before the Aztecs or their language. These warriors were an elite military unit similar to the eagle warriors. The jaguar motif was useful due to the belief of what the jaguar represented. To become a jaguar warrior, a member of the Aztec army had to capture a total of four enemies from battles, in Pre-and Post- Columbian cultures. In a similar fashion, the poem "toltec silver" is about Aztec art and Taxco is a city in Mexico. The poet refers to their silver craftsmanship, and even more so, the "heart" of it, with the physicality of repeating: "poundin/nd carvin", as an expression of passion "long into the night". The Malahat is located on the west side of the Saanich Inlet, Victoria B.C. Its name comes from the Malahat First Nation, whose ancestors used the caves for spiritual enhancement. The mountain is considered one of the most sacred sites on southern Vancouver Island. The poem "crossin the malahat" reflects on this repudiation of modern life. Indeed, his disillusionment is only relieved by the mountains and "the nootka", a tribe and their language, one of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest (on Vancouver Islands). The poem "high travellin" asserts the absence of the shaman at this altitude; "just the eagle/nd raven" amid the essence "all that/blue nd/wind". The patterned wing poem "song for bertholde" (to whom the collection is dedicated) conveys the spatial awareness of a dizzy spin and sail "in/your blue". The poet calls on "both the/eagle nd/raven" as divine muses, on whose power he can take "that flight home". The "she" vocalizes, "screamin/ndc cryin/flyin nd/dyin nd/cryin/flyin" in a rapid repetitive sequence. The animal spirits heed "no customs" and "no border crossings". The dedication "for sarain stump" denotes a Cree visual artist, (1945-1974); he moved from the U.S. to Canada in 1964 and worked as a rancher in Alberta. By 1972, the self-taught artist had become the art director of the Indian Art program at the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural College in Saskatoon. Aboriginal medicine practices were based on holistic teaching. Healers consisted of both herbalists and medicine people with special gifts. The botanical gardens of Mexico were centres of learning including astronomy. The stone temples of the Mayan civilization and the roads, bridges, and irrigation systems of the Incas demonstrate a practical application of mathematics. (Agnes Grant, No End of Grief, 1996). There is a procession in "to teotihaucan", in San Juan, Mexico, associated with with temples, toltecs (jaguar soldiers) creation and death (both gods associated with his personal love object). The diction shifts to a more modern speech (in "beyond survivial"); when a son of his views him as a relic, just like an already outdated notebook computer. Other potential symbols may be preceived as anachcronistic, such as dreamcatchers, medicine wheels, raven, bear, eagle, and witchdoctor. The poet muses that somewhere eros explodes into white light in the dark. In "beyond survivial" we encounter terms such as "33 MHz, 4KB RAM, 80MB" and, in the next poem ("when i get to run this world") the poet further documents the dated technical talk of: "986 chips, 44 KB, 97.3 MHz, RAM". He enthusiastically trades computing with a command console and coaxial networking for the yuctan sand, jaguar dreams. The poem "breakfast in the nation's capital" refers to the Grand Hotel, in Ottawa on Bank Street. It was Ottawa's second oldest hotel when it was demolished in the 1980s. The poet suffers guilt on account of its demise and desires a purge "for the multi/national conglomerate/sprawled/over the entire city block". Another reference point depends on "how the/cree/cariboo/up at/fort george/are still drowining." Fort George was a military fortification in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, hence the drowning allusion. In 2018, the Cree Nation Government put in place a ban on the Indigenous hunt of the George River caribou herd. Caribou have long been vital to the survival of Indigenous peoples in the north; the First Nations, Inuit, and Metis. Note the ironic tone in the poet's conclusion, if we "can stay/alive/in this/great/ confederation". "yucatan sun" is another instance of an apt region in Mexico for emblems of temple, soldiers, songs. A "letter from guernevaca" originates from the Morelos Valley, a landlocked state in south-central Mexico. A dress of jacaranda is a vestment composed of the flowers, an old mural evokes eagle, jaguar warrior, in battles with the conquistador; "palacio" is Spanish for Queen or King's palace. The poem "agawa shore" again depends on agawa rock (for pictographs) of spirits, trance, otherwise he is alone and on his own. The laws of science, time and distance theory, come to nothing: "only the spirits/wander around/down at agawa/shore." "south of burrard street", in Vancouver, is where he addresses the mountain, and ocean shore, rising to the summit with a prayer or pledge. This paean is a hymn, a song of praise or triumph that expresses enthusiastic praise. Finally, he petitions, "get me/off/ this// cross which renders him a Christ- figure. He does this when he is seeking salvation for those people "black/and broken", so that mercy can be shown "bring them home" (to beauty). The poet turns to incremental refrain in "sorcery and power" to express silence about occasions on which he and others "said nothing" while he knelt, wept, etc. The young man on a vision quest did not share his personal vision or song with others, unless it was his spiritual advisor. This theme of salvation is extended in "another form of art" in which a series of people who "know nothing" are related with the annoyance of having to wait, without elegance; even "beauty" (personified) is another who has to wait but "knows how" to do so. Thus, we should worship "at her feet" in an airport queue, while we learn more about her: "silk skirt, thigh, fragrant." In "turbines and steel" he reveals that a woman and child await him, (perhaps the "sean" referenced elsewhere) so pleads to keep them safe. In "down at college park" he shares his fear and memories, especially of being alone. Another "down" is "all the way down", with palm trees. Paseo de la Reforma is a wide avenue that runs diagonally across the heart of Mexico City. The "college park" towers are "all around" and he finds himself "between these towers". The shorthand script in "willow and lite" reworks this trope of "all the way" or "following you", "down/down" in incremental rhyme. The almost imperceptible sounds ("voices") are everywhere, on the valley floor, a wolf "winks", his heart, "taking me home", which compares with the earlier drum and turbine sounds. In "the bell of saint john", the bells are at the historic St Paul's Church in Saint John, New Brunswick. The poem plays with "to be down here" with "catchin up/catchin up". Of the past: there is the paradoxical "catchin up/to those places/you've already been", addressed to his love object. In "sierra blue" this cosmic image is applied to the eyes; his tears are from "sun/washing/down". One might compare the glass and silver also from this region. The Incas used rock and stones to manufacture tools which were traded. "suncatcher" echoes belief in the old ways; the objects are believed to be originally made by the Southwestern Native Americans. Reflecting his affection, they capture rays of light that can cast a dazzling array of colours across a room. An apostrophe is a direct and explicit address either to an absent person or to an abstract or nonhuman impetus. The subject is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Nevertheless, "for w.h. new" is ironic in tone and dedicated to a critic and editor, whose academic area of expertise is Commonwealth Literature. This background perhaps is interpreted here as empire-building, settler colonialism and conquest. The poem alludes to a campaign (at least this one) in which it suggests that he "met/the people/on your way down". The surprising conclusion is revealed, "we're/not taking/any prisoners//this time around". Nevertheless, Native Writers and Canadian Writing was edited by W. H. New (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1990). "The question of non-natives writing about native subjects is dealt with but on the level of the deep sub-conscious, where many qualities of humanity are the same." This approach could be perceived as appropriation. ("just about anything") alludes to a sense of desperation in his wanting to meet women, based on his good looks and/or as a writer. Taking a wider berth, "bein in charge nd all" refers to authority as being responsible for the poet's misery, perhaps based on a troubled relationship, or unrequited love affair. The poet is still working for you here with "silver and clay" a classic work poem (at the corner of "reforma and bay") focused as it is on silver and sorcerer's clay. An admission from the labourer is "i never really/changed/ much" which concludes the poem. By the Laws of La Reforma (1859), church property, except for places of worship, was to be confiscated without compensation, monasteries were suppressed, cemeteries nationalized, and civil marriage instituted. (Retrieved from the internet on 18 September 2023). "nobody sleeps at nite any more" consecrates the black ashes of augury, a sign of what will happen in the future, as it is situated at the corner/of mountain/and sky". The work of an augurer was the interpretation of omens. Aboriginal knowledge encompassed many areas. Mound builders demonstrated a knowledge of astronomy— their elaborate systems of mounds were aligned with the stars and eclipses were predicted. The title and text of "silver and rain" complete an ingenious choral poem to be read both forwards and backwards. The substance combines song, oceans, wind and rain with dreams. The poet calls on all known songwriters for inspiration in a similar poem ("proclamations and dust"). There are auditory images of "angelic trumpet pronouncements", "electric harpsichords"; as song renders an account by a medicine dreamer of sharing cosmic hallucinations with his beloved. Aboriginal medicine was holistic healing by people with special gifts. Hence, the magical touch, toltec architecture, armoury and Aztec jaguar rings. Worshipped by Mayans and Aztecs, the rare quetzal bird was a symbol of freedom because it was believed that it preferred to die of hunger rather than to live as a prisoner. The poet proclaims his love along with the raven "waving/those old sons/and myths/around like/some kind of national flag". Despite a "wizard statue", "ed's old sorcerer" from an electronic game, and colourful prisms, the celestial location is "at the mountains' breast/all in beauty". "for Jeannette" is signed by "norman, oklahoma", who addresses her "okanagan/beauty". A contrast is drawn between nature and "these/hungry/streets". The Okanagan Country, also known as the Okanagan Valley, is a region located in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington (where it is spelled the Okanogan Country), defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Okanagan River. (Retrieved online, 18 September 2023) "rainy days" on or near a Montreal River is intended to (not) get "fully certified/insane about". The poem displays several auditory images of a rattle, rain, music by George Harrison and Roy Orbison (the latter "amplified at 90 decibels each"). See below how many of Keon's works have been set to music. There are also a simile of near perfect love with magician's tricks, another of eagle and raven (rarely together anymore), "as any kind of hallucination". As previously cited in an online interview for "Poetry and Voice", Keon was asked: "When did you first start writing poetry?" this was his reply. "Probably ten years old-ish... I know we were still living in Pembroke, Ontario and I was humming & singing the song 'Oh Boy' as sung by Buddy Holly, who recorded it in the summer of ’57. By Elliot Lake, Ontario, I know I was trying to write verses then .... like Buddy Holly (except we all know he didn’t write that song .... lol)." "down the fast lane" has an extended metaphor of baggage handling on a conveyer belt, conjuring and sorcerer's pit. This adventure is on a flight from New Orleans back to Buffalo, at altitude of about 40000 feet, then speed of 500 miles per hour, soon reduced to a crawl. What will take hold is the "lite", "the conjurin" to start, a corridor, into a sorcerer's pit. He anticipates the loss of his luggage, and expresses empathy because the leather case (in a simile) is sliced open "like a deer's belly bein/bled after the kill". The walls of a dungeon, wild stars and ice, raven "cracklin" are all conceived. A minimalist and epigrammatic poem "at allison pass" depicts B.C. with crow's nest, eagle and raven, shaman, and summit. The journey is an ascent in order to engage spiritual nature, a simile of "reaching for the peak", while the scene "rises away". The celebration of life is a lament or dirge of "earth walk talks" which deals with death by images of heaven and earth, "that long ride/out to clouds and sky and blue" and concomitantly "all finished up with/this earth walk". The Coquilhalla peaks or "shaman's mist" are in Vancouver and written for a dear dead friend, thus dedicated "to Tom, and signed by a lower case "wayne". Note: Music performances of Wayne Keon’s work Teach Me To Dance (2014) on YouTube, Written by Wayne Keon / Arranged and Performed by Mia Bee Storm Dances (1996). Featured in performance presenting 'Storm Dances' - selection of improvised music and poems from STORM DANCER. Performers William Beauvais, Julian Knight, Mhari Fyfe, Wednesday, June 1996 at Orillia, Ontario Storm Dances (1995). Featured in performance presenting 'Storm Dances' - selection of improvised music and poems from STORM DANCER. * performers William Beauvais, Julian Knight, Mhari Fyfe, Fall 1995 at Toronto, Ontario Storm Dances (1994). Featured in performance by Improv Cafe presenting 'Storm Dances' - selection of improvised music and poems from STORM DANCER. Performers William Beauvais, Julian Knight, Mhari Fyfe, Wednesday, March 16, 1994, at THE ART BAR, Matyas Cellar, 840 St. Clair Ave. W., Toronto, Ontario Three Impressions (1973). Musical arrangement commissioned for the Ontario Youth Choir, CBC taping Arrangement composed by Norma Beecroft, Poems from Sweetgrass, "shell," "fall," and "sundown." Discography Album "Sunsets & Dreams" on YouTube, music album "lo tech no tech & no retakes" on YouTube, music album Singles "for Chanie 2016" on YouTube, remembrance for Chanie Wenjack - Wayne Keon "teach me to dance 2015" on YouTube, from the album lo tech no tech & no retakes - Wayne Keon "don't you ever go away 2015" on YouTube, from the album lo tech no tech & no retakes - Wayne Keon "Baltic Dream 2015" on YouTube, from the album Sunsets & Dreams - Wayne Keon "Would You Believe 2014" on YouTube, from the album Sunsets & Dreams - Wayne Keon "Baltic Blue – for Anita 2014" on YouTube, from the album Sunsets & Dreams - Wayne Keon "Hold the One You Love 2013" on YouTube, from the album Sunsets & Dreams - Wayne Keon "I’m Outta Here 2013" on YouTube, from the album Sunsets & Dreams - Wayne Keon "If I Could Fly – for wh new 2013" on YouTube, from the album Sunsets & Dreams - Wayne Keon "Soledad 2013" on YouTube, from the album Sunsets & Dreams - Wayne Keon "Tennessee Tonight 2013" on YouTube, from the album Sunsets & Dreams - Wayne Keon "Until The End 2013" on YouTube, from the album Sunsets & Dreams - Wayne Keon https://en.everybodywiki.com/Wayne_Keon Anne Burke

title

description

Biography

Anne Burke is a poet, editor and critic, who has published widely, in books, journals, literary magazines. She was Prairie Correspondent for Poetry Canada Review and is Chair of the Feminist Caucus of the League of Canadian Poets.

Wayne Keon: Storm Dancer New!

Review of Storm Dancer, by Wayne Keon (Stratford, Ontario: The Mercury Press, 1993).

Wayne Keon is an author, poet, and member of Nipissing First Nation, an Ojibwa tribe. The Nipissing First Nation has lived in the area of Lake Nipissing in Ontario for about 9,400 years. Keon was born in 1946 in Pembroke, Ontario. He grew up in a Northern Ontario mining town during the 1960s and attended Holy Name Irish School. In an online 2023 "Micro Interview" associated with The Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry and McCall McBain Foundation, Keon said "We moved in January 1958 to Elliot Lake, Ontario. My adopted father was Irish (Fermanagh County) and worked in the mines." Orville Keon worked at Denison Mines. Although his father only had a sixth grade education, he was a skilled storyteller and fostered in Wayne an appreciation for literature. "One time when I was quite a bit younger, he gave me a book of the complete works of the greatest poet ever, William Butler Yeats". Keon observes of "Go By Brooks" (a poem by Leonard Cohen), "It sort of got me going on a kind of a native response i.e., using the magic number four of native peoples (the four directions: north, south, east, west; the four seasons: spring, summer, fall, winter...[as inspiration] for “if i ever heard”, a much anthologized poem by Keon. https://poetryinvoice.ca/read/poets/wayne-keon.

Keon obtained a business administration degree, in 1969, from the Northern Institute of Technology in Kirkland Lake, Ontario. He has a background as a financial analyst, is seventy-six years of age and has lived in Richmond, Ontario. As of 1976, Keon worked for a mining corporation Rio Algom, which amalgamated with Billiton, and finally BHP Billiton, to become the largest mining corporation in the world. He was able to travel extensively, including in North and South America, Australia and Europe. The company encouraged Keon's writing and gave copies of his books to their South American colleagues studying English. Keon has read his poetry in Canada, the United States, and throughout Europe. His literary work has been published in journals across Canada and widely anthologized. https://en.everybodywiki.com/Wayne_Keon

We had the pleasure of publishing Keon's "Spirit Warrior Raven: Dream Winter" and "Spirit Warrior Raven: Emerald Spring", albeit as Fiction in issue #21 with original drawings by A.M. Matejko. Both pieces were published in storm dancer, poems along with a third variation "Spirit Warrior Raven Rainbow Village". All three of the Spirit Warrior Raven oral stories are told in the first-person and ostensibly take place in the land of the Anishinaabe, "a long time ago". "Anishnawbe", most commonly used to describe Ojibwa people, is a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. Elder and linguist Basil H. Johnston maintained that Anishinaabe translates as “Beings Made Out of Nothing” and “Spontaneous Beings.” In 1895, the Indian Act banned various Indigenous ceremonies and events. While Anishinaabe culture and the Anishinaabe language were banished by Residential Schools, Keon strives to reclaim them and more, by adapting the ancient essence to contemporary problems and conflicts.

The "fable", also called an "apologue" is a short narrative in prose or poetry that exemplifies an abstract moral thesis or principle of human behaviour; usually at its conclusion, either the narrator or one of the characters states the moral in the form of an epigram. The most common is the beast fable, a very ancient form that existed in Egypt, India, and Greece, in which animals talk and act like the human types they represent. A "trickster" is a character in a story who persistently uses his wiliness, and gift of gab, to achieve his ends by outmanoeuvring or outwitting the other characters. A counterpart in many North American Indian cultures are the beast fables that feature Coyote as the central trickster. (A Glossary of Literary Terms, 7th Edition, by M.H. Abrams, Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999.)

The vision quest began a new phase of life, when a boy was visited by an animal, it became his spiritual power, if he learned to converse with the animal during his vigil (Agnes Grant, No End Of Grief, Winnipeg: Pemmican Publications Inc., 1996). In "Spirit Warrior Raven Dream Winter" the Raven Warrior becomes the dancer of his people, when he hears his spirit power speak, "I am trickster and magician of all the people, Raven. I am your strength and power if you be a true spirit warrior. I will be with you always until we meet here once again."

This ubiquitous figure, which is neither male nor female (but gender free) is central to all Aboriginal mythology. Story-telling passed on oral histories, myths, legends, or anecdotal tales with important moral or factual teachings. They illustrated ways of meeting dangers in both the social and the natural worlds; having scope, depth, and a number of themes, in some age-appropriate greater depth. (Basil Johnstone, Ojibway Heritage (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1976) cited by Agnes Grant in No End of Grief (1996).

Ritual could be simple like prayers or more complex in naming, walking-out ceremonies, and puberty rites, as in the highly structured Ojibway Medewewin. The vision quest began a new phase of life, when a boy was visited by an animal, it became his spiritual power, if he learned to converse with the animal during his vigil. The great mystery will test his strength but also share shamanistic truths with him through drumming as the centre of his people.

In " Spirit Warrior Raven Dream Winter" there is risk of death until the Raven Warrior meets up with Willow Woman. In "Spirit Warrior Raven Emerald Spring" she places the essence of the Emerald Spring in his medicine bag. In Spirit Warrior Raven Rainbow Village" he encounters two women, "Many Fires" and "Two Moons". The quest is for a village of four rainbows, an eagle changed into a woman. He suddenly encounters a coyote in the desert. The animal was as large as a man, howling like a dog, but mocking in a human voice, "Have you no tongue with which to speak, Ojibway man!"

Aboriginal spirituality centred on the relationship of humanity to the whole of creation, that is a oneness. Therefore, the earth was referred to as "Mother Earth", animals were called brothers and sisters, and otherwise inanimate objects were considered relatives. The Great Spirit moves through all of life and is the Cosmic Order. The spiritual pilgrimage allows for a balance between the physical and the spiritual, as well as a sense of the interdependence and connectedness of all life. (Stan McKay, "Calling Creation into our Family", Nation to Nation: Aboriginal Sovereignty and the Future of Canada Concord, Ontario: Anansi, 1992 p. 29 cited by Agnes Grant, in No End of Grief 1996.

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Midē'wiwin or "Grand Medicine Society" of the Ojibway Walter James Hoffman is an interesting source book. The "Society of the Midē´ or Shamans" consists of an indefinite number of Midē´ of multiple sexes. Among the Ojibwa the function is not a hereditary one of this medicine man, priest, seer, prophet (of which there are several classes). The Ojibwa believe in a multiplicity of spirits, or man´idōs, which inhabit all space and every conspicuous object in nature. This deity is represented in pictography by the eagle. the Thunder-bird (eagle). Thus, the favour of the "Great Thunderer", or "Thunder God", must be invoked and his anger appeased.

The title poem "storm dancer" relies on the personification of thunder and wind, dancing "a wild kind of jig", thunder is "drum pounding", "until you/become the dancer", the "black hair/flyin" of the storm dancer is indistinguishable from the raven. Or, as In William Butler Yeats' poem "Among School Children" that poet famously asks "How can we know the dancer from the dance"? The Ojibway were known to travel great distances in search of new songs. All musical selections were originally vocal, some with drum accompaniment, with sacred drums, dancing chants, flute and rattles. Anishinaabe communities have a long tradition of music. Drumming (including hand drumming and powwow drumming) is used for healing and entertainment, and plays a key role in ceremonies.

In this inaugural poetry collection, the reader is introduced to the peripatetic lower case and clipped diction, in musical note form; and purposeful simplification of spelling, such as "thru" for "through", "lites" for "lights", "cos" for "because"; along with distinctive dropping of the "a" from "and "g" for "ing"(an epigrammatic quality we have seen in the concrete poetry of bill bisset and b.p. nichol). In the title poem and throughout this collection, "storm dancer" offers deceivingly simple rhymes resulting in a driving rhythm toward ecstasy and spiritual consummation. The poet effectively relies on the device of onomatopoeia, as well as a pattern of metaphysical conceits, authentic simile, implied metaphor, and other figurative language.

Parenthetically, shaman, eagle, raven, medicine pouch, stone cache, and all other totemic images and icons are valued. The practice of invocations to the poet's various muses depends on a sudden emotional impetus, although in other instances they effect high formality. In other words, the poet seeks divine intervention to establish the authoritative or prophetic identity of his poetic voice. Keon is fond of the ode, a lyric poem, that is serious in subject and treatment, elevated in style, and elaborate or irregular in its structure. Odes were modelled on the songs by the chorus in Greek drama and may be eulogizistic, written to praise or glorify. The personal ode may express passionate meditation and depict an aspect of the outer scene in an attempt to solve a personal, human emotional problem (A Glossary of Literary Terms, by M.H. Abraham, 1999).

The first poem "down to agawa" observes that "time//nd space" are suspended near one of the Great Lakes because a dance through the "old dimension" renders them so. That formidable mountain ("she") is where the persona of the poet sheds his sadness; this form of significant vision quest recovers the great circle. Thus, the poet alludes to those sacred paintings or pictographs "nd fine ojibway dust", since the past is now being evoked. The drum beat and dance are cadenced with dimensions both extended and eluded. He addresses who "took my sadness there", as well as "raven". "Agawa Rock" is a sacred site of the Ojibwa people, the original inhabitants of the region, who still have a presence. The Agawa Rock Pictographs are rock paintings made by Anishinaabe shamans, two or three hundred years ago which can still be seen on the edge of a rock cliff on the edge of Lake Superior. (retrieved online, 18 September 2023).

In the poem "heart nd soul", there is a comparison drawn between the toltec jaguar male warrior (and sacred animal counterpart) before the council of priests. "Toltec" means belonging to a member of an indigenous people that flourished in Mexico before the Aztecs or their language. These warriors were an elite military unit similar to the eagle warriors. The jaguar motif was useful due to the belief of what the jaguar represented. To become a jaguar warrior, a member of the Aztec army had to capture a total of four enemies from battles, in Pre-and Post- Columbian cultures. In a similar fashion, the poem "toltec silver" is about Aztec art and Taxco is a city in Mexico. The poet refers to their silver craftsmanship, and even more so, the "heart" of it, with the physicality of repeating: "poundin/nd carvin", as an expression of passion "long into the night".

The Malahat is located on the west side of the Saanich Inlet, Victoria B.C. Its name comes from the Malahat First Nation, whose ancestors used the caves for spiritual enhancement. The mountain is considered one of the most sacred sites on southern Vancouver Island. The poem "crossin the malahat" reflects on this repudiation of modern life. Indeed, his disillusionment is only relieved by the mountains and "the nootka", a tribe and their language, one of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest (on Vancouver Islands).

The poem "high travellin" asserts the absence of the shaman at this altitude; "just the eagle/nd raven" amid the essence "all that/blue nd/wind". The patterned wing poem "song for bertholde" (to whom the collection is dedicated) conveys the spatial awareness of a dizzy spin and sail "in/your blue". The poet calls on "both the/eagle nd/raven" as divine muses, on whose power he can take "that flight home". The "she" vocalizes, "screamin/ndc cryin/flyin nd/dyin nd/cryin/flyin" in a rapid repetitive sequence. The animal spirits heed "no customs" and "no border crossings". The dedication "for sarain stump" denotes a Cree visual artist, (1945-1974); he moved from the U.S. to Canada in 1964 and worked as a rancher in Alberta. By 1972, the self-taught artist had become the art director of the Indian Art program at the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural College in Saskatoon.

Aboriginal medicine practices were based on holistic teaching. Healers consisted of both herbalists and medicine people with special gifts. The botanical gardens of Mexico were centres of learning including astronomy. The stone temples of the Mayan civilization and the roads, bridges, and irrigation systems of the Incas demonstrate a practical application of mathematics. (Agnes Grant, No End of Grief, 1996).

There is a procession in "to teotihaucan", in San Juan, Mexico, associated with with temples, toltecs (jaguar soldiers) creation and death (both gods associated with his personal love object). The diction shifts to a more modern speech (in "beyond survivial"); when a son of his views him as a relic, just like an already outdated notebook computer. Other potential symbols may be preceived as anachcronistic, such as dreamcatchers, medicine wheels, raven, bear, eagle, and witchdoctor. The poet muses that somewhere eros explodes into white light in the dark. In "beyond survivial" we encounter terms such as "33 MHz, 4KB RAM, 80MB" and, in the next poem ("when i get to run this world") the poet further documents the dated technical talk of: "986 chips, 44 KB, 97.3 MHz, RAM". He enthusiastically trades computing with a command console and coaxial networking for the yuctan sand, jaguar dreams.

The poem "breakfast in the nation's capital" refers to the Grand Hotel, in Ottawa on Bank Street. It was Ottawa's second oldest hotel when it was demolished in the 1980s. The poet suffers guilt on account of its demise and desires a purge "for the multi/national conglomerate/sprawled/over the entire city block". Another reference point depends on "how the/cree/cariboo/up at/fort george/are still drowining." Fort George was a military fortification in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, hence the drowning allusion. In 2018, the Cree Nation Government put in place a ban on the Indigenous hunt of the George River caribou herd. Caribou have long been vital to the survival of Indigenous peoples in the north; the First Nations, Inuit, and Metis. Note the ironic tone in the poet's conclusion, if we "can stay/alive/in this/great/ confederation".

"yucatan sun" is another instance of an apt region in Mexico for emblems of temple, soldiers, songs. A "letter from guernevaca" originates from the Morelos Valley, a landlocked state in south-central Mexico. A dress of jacaranda is a vestment composed of the flowers, an old mural evokes eagle, jaguar warrior, in battles with the conquistador; "palacio" is Spanish for Queen or King's palace. The poem "agawa shore" again depends on agawa rock (for pictographs) of spirits, trance, otherwise he is alone and on his own. The laws of science, time and distance theory, come to nothing: "only the spirits/wander around/down at agawa/shore."

"south of burrard street", in Vancouver, is where he addresses the mountain, and ocean shore, rising to the summit with a prayer or pledge. This paean is a hymn, a song of praise or triumph that expresses enthusiastic praise. Finally, he petitions, "get me/off/ this// cross which renders him a Christ- figure. He does this when he is seeking salvation for those people "black/and broken", so that mercy can be shown "bring them home" (to beauty). The poet turns to incremental refrain in "sorcery and power" to express silence about occasions on which he and others "said nothing" while he knelt, wept, etc. The young man on a vision quest did not share his personal vision or song with others, unless it was his spiritual advisor. This theme of salvation is extended in "another form of art" in which a series of people who "know nothing" are related with the annoyance of having to wait, without elegance; even "beauty" (personified) is another who has to wait but "knows how" to do so. Thus, we should worship "at her feet" in an airport queue, while we learn more about her: "silk skirt, thigh, fragrant."

In "turbines and steel" he reveals that a woman and child await him, (perhaps the "sean" referenced elsewhere) so pleads to keep them safe. In "down at college park" he shares his fear and memories, especially of being alone. Another "down" is "all the way down", with palm trees. Paseo de la Reforma is a wide avenue that runs diagonally across the heart of Mexico City. The "college park" towers are "all around" and he finds himself "between these towers". The shorthand script in "willow and lite" reworks this trope of "all the way" or "following you", "down/down" in incremental rhyme. The almost imperceptible sounds ("voices") are everywhere, on the valley floor, a wolf "winks", his heart, "taking me home", which compares with the earlier drum and turbine sounds. In "the bell of saint john", the bells are at the historic St Paul's Church in Saint John, New Brunswick. The poem plays with "to be down here" with "catchin up/catchin up". Of the past: there is the paradoxical "catchin up/to those places/you've already been", addressed to his love object.

In "sierra blue" this cosmic image is applied to the eyes; his tears are from "sun/washing/down". One might compare the glass and silver also from this region. The Incas used rock and stones to manufacture tools which were traded. "suncatcher" echoes belief in the old ways; the objects are believed to be originally made by the Southwestern Native Americans. Reflecting his affection, they capture rays of light that can cast a dazzling array of colours across a room.

An apostrophe is a direct and explicit address either to an absent person or to an abstract or nonhuman impetus. The subject is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Nevertheless, "for w.h. new" is ironic in tone and dedicated to a critic and editor, whose academic area of expertise is Commonwealth Literature. This background perhaps is interpreted here as empire-building, settler colonialism and conquest. The poem alludes to a campaign (at least this one) in which it suggests that he "met/the people/on your way down". The surprising conclusion is revealed, "we're/not taking/any prisoners//this time around". Nevertheless, Native Writers and Canadian Writing was edited by W. H. New (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1990). "The question of non-natives writing about native subjects is dealt with but on the level of the deep sub-conscious, where many qualities of humanity are the same." This approach could be perceived as appropriation.

("just about anything") alludes to a sense of desperation in his wanting to meet women, based on his good looks and/or as a writer. Taking a wider berth, "bein in charge nd all" refers to authority as being responsible for the poet's misery, perhaps based on a troubled relationship, or unrequited love affair.

The poet is still working for you here with "silver and clay" a classic work poem (at the corner of "reforma and bay") focused as it is on silver and sorcerer's clay. An admission from the labourer is "i never really/changed/ much" which concludes the poem. By the Laws of La Reforma (1859), church property, except for places of worship, was to be confiscated without compensation, monasteries were suppressed, cemeteries nationalized, and civil marriage instituted. (Retrieved from the internet on 18 September 2023).

"nobody sleeps at nite any more" consecrates the black ashes of augury, a sign of what will happen in the future, as it is situated at the corner/of mountain/and sky". The work of an augurer was the interpretation of omens. Aboriginal knowledge encompassed many areas. Mound builders demonstrated a knowledge of astronomy— their elaborate systems of mounds were aligned with the stars and eclipses were predicted.

The title and text of "silver and rain" complete an ingenious choral poem to be read both forwards and backwards. The substance combines song, oceans, wind and rain with dreams. The poet calls on all known songwriters for inspiration in a similar poem ("proclamations and dust"). There are auditory images of "angelic trumpet pronouncements", "electric harpsichords"; as song renders an account by a medicine dreamer of sharing cosmic hallucinations with his beloved.

Aboriginal medicine was holistic healing by people with special gifts. Hence, the magical touch, toltec architecture, armoury and Aztec jaguar rings. Worshipped by Mayans and Aztecs, the rare quetzal bird was a symbol of freedom because it was believed that it preferred to die of hunger rather than to live as a prisoner. The poet proclaims his love along with the raven "waving/those old sons/and myths/around like/some kind of national flag". Despite a "wizard statue", "ed's old sorcerer" from an electronic game, and colourful prisms, the celestial location is "at the mountains' breast/all in beauty". "for Jeannette" is signed by "norman, oklahoma", who addresses her "okanagan/beauty". A contrast is drawn between nature and "these/hungry/streets". The Okanagan Country, also known as the Okanagan Valley, is a region located in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington (where it is spelled the Okanogan Country), defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Okanagan River. (Retrieved online, 18 September 2023)

"rainy days" on or near a Montreal River is intended to (not) get "fully certified/insane about". The poem displays several auditory images of a rattle, rain, music by George Harrison and Roy Orbison (the latter "amplified at 90 decibels each"). See below how many of Keon's works have been set to music. There are also a simile of near perfect love with magician's tricks, another of eagle and raven (rarely together anymore), "as any kind of hallucination". As previously cited in an online interview for "Poetry and Voice", Keon was asked: "When did you first start writing poetry?" this was his reply. "Probably ten years old-ish... I know we were still living in Pembroke, Ontario and I was humming & singing the song 'Oh Boy' as sung by Buddy Holly, who recorded it in the summer of ’57. By Elliot Lake, Ontario, I know I was trying to write verses then .... like Buddy Holly (except we all know he didn’t write that song .... lol)."

"down the fast lane" has an extended metaphor of baggage handling on a conveyer belt, conjuring and sorcerer's pit. This adventure is on a flight from New Orleans back to Buffalo, at altitude of about 40000 feet, then speed of 500 miles per hour, soon reduced to a crawl. What will take hold is the "lite", "the conjurin" to start, a corridor, into a sorcerer's pit. He anticipates the loss of his luggage, and expresses empathy because the leather case (in a simile) is sliced open "like a deer's belly bein/bled after the kill". The walls of a dungeon, wild stars and ice, raven "cracklin" are all conceived. A minimalist and epigrammatic poem "at allison pass" depicts B.C. with crow's nest, eagle and raven, shaman, and summit. The journey is an ascent in order to engage spiritual nature, a simile of "reaching for the peak", while the scene "rises away".

The celebration of life is a lament or dirge of "earth walk talks" which deals with death by images of heaven and earth, "that long ride/out to clouds and sky and blue" and concomitantly "all finished up with/this earth walk". The Coquilhalla peaks or "shaman's mist" are in Vancouver and written for a dear dead friend, thus dedicated "to Tom, and signed by a lower case "wayne".

Note:

Music performances of Wayne Keon’s work

Teach Me To Dance (2014) on YouTube, Written by Wayne Keon / Arranged and Performed by Mia Bee
Storm Dances (1996). Featured in performance presenting 'Storm Dances' - selection of improvised music and poems from STORM DANCER. Performers William Beauvais, Julian Knight, Mhari Fyfe, Wednesday, June 1996 at Orillia, Ontario
Storm Dances (1995). Featured in performance presenting 'Storm Dances' - selection of improvised music and poems from STORM DANCER. * performers William Beauvais, Julian Knight, Mhari Fyfe, Fall 1995 at Toronto, Ontario
Storm Dances (1994). Featured in performance by Improv Cafe presenting 'Storm Dances' - selection of improvised music and poems from STORM DANCER. Performers William Beauvais, Julian Knight, Mhari Fyfe, Wednesday, March 16, 1994, at THE ART BAR, Matyas Cellar, 840 St. Clair Ave. W., Toronto, Ontario
Three Impressions (1973). Musical arrangement commissioned for the Ontario Youth Choir, CBC taping Arrangement composed by Norma Beecroft, Poems from Sweetgrass, "shell," "fall," and "sundown."

Discography
Album

"Sunsets & Dreams" on YouTube, music album
"lo tech no tech & no retakes" on YouTube, music album

Singles

"for Chanie 2016" on YouTube, remembrance for Chanie Wenjack - Wayne Keon
"teach me to dance 2015" on YouTube, from the album lo tech no tech & no retakes - Wayne Keon
"don't you ever go away 2015" on YouTube, from the album lo tech no tech & no retakes - Wayne Keon
"Baltic Dream 2015" on YouTube, from the album Sunsets & Dreams - Wayne Keon
"Would You Believe 2014" on YouTube, from the album Sunsets & Dreams - Wayne Keon
"Baltic Blue – for Anita 2014" on YouTube, from the album Sunsets & Dreams - Wayne Keon
"Hold the One You Love 2013" on YouTube, from the album Sunsets & Dreams - Wayne Keon
"I’m Outta Here 2013" on YouTube, from the album Sunsets & Dreams - Wayne Keon
"If I Could Fly – for wh new 2013" on YouTube, from the album Sunsets & Dreams - Wayne Keon
"Soledad 2013" on YouTube, from the album Sunsets & Dreams - Wayne Keon
"Tennessee Tonight 2013" on YouTube, from the album Sunsets & Dreams - Wayne Keon
"Until The End 2013" on YouTube, from the album Sunsets & Dreams - Wayne Keon

https://en.everybodywiki.com/Wayne_Keon