10/ The Delight Song of Tsaoi-Talee

(a special thanks to poet Michael Dennis Browne for this exercise!)

The Delight Song of Tsaoi-Talee
- by N. Scott Mamaday

I am a feather on the bright sky

I am the blue horse that runs on the plain

I am the fish that rolls, shining, in the water

I am the shadow that follows a child

I am the evening light, the lustre of meadows

I am an eagle playing with the wind

I am a cluster of bright beads

I am the farthest star

I am the cold of dawn

I am the roaring of the rain

I am the glitter of the crust of the snow

I am the long track of the moon in a lake

I am a flame of four colors

I am a deer standing away in the dusk

I am a field of sumac and the pomme blanche

I am an angle of geese in the winter sky

I am the hunger of a young wolf

I am the whole dream of these things

You see, I am alive, I am alive

I stand in good relation to the earth

I stand in good relation to the gods

I stand in good relation to all that is beautiful

I stand in good relation to the daughter of Tsen-tainte

You see, I am alive, I am alive

Writing exercise (in several steps):

- Begin by writing a series of "I am" statements. Be free, let this go for five, ten minutes.
- MDB likes to have the writer cut one line completely, change a word, and give specific instructions for small edits.
- The second step is to re-write the poem by shuffling the "halves" of the poem. For instance, in the first line, "I am a feather on the bright sky" and the second line, "I am the blue horse that runs in the plain" could become "I am a feather that runs in the plain" or "I am the blue horse on the bright sky." One does not have to make those shifts with phrases that are adjacent, but rather, let the eyes wander (quickly) and see what comes up.

Share. (MDB would then ask, "What's your pleasure, what's your pain? What was that like for you? Feed the monster.")