Time Takes Me on Its Wing - September 2018
From Hollering Sun, 1972, by Nancy Wood
Time takes me on its wing
and I travel to the sun
And am consumed by fire.
Time takes me on its wing
and I travel to the river
And am drowned in water.
Time takes me on its wing
And I travel into the earth
And am a mountain not yet risen.
Each place that I go
Others have gone before me.
That is why
The sun dances
The wind weeps
The river leaps
And the earth sings.
Neither the sun nor the wind
The river nor the earth
Did these things
Before man was placed in the world
To believe it.
The Peculiar Grace of Men - August 2018
From Wild Love, 1996, by Nancy Wood (published in Japanese only)
He never dances, except with me, in
a swirl of love and half-remembered music
that pours from his lips as he turns me
toward him like a bird. His is not a dancer's body,
but that of a man accustomed to living life
in the raw. He is clumsy on his feet and cannot
keep rhythm to the simplest tune. The peculiar grace
of men in love saves them from awkwardness,
especially when women don't notice
the way such creatures
trample on their feet.
Many Winters I Have Lived - July 2018
From Many Winters, 1974, by Nancy Wood
Many winters I have lived
Ever since the beginning of time
When the first snow fell
Covering the tired earth
Which played with endless summer.
Many winters I held the water captive
On the tops of many mountains
Still warm from the earth's beginning
When the moon and the sun gave birth
To one full circle of beauty.
Many winters I blew the stars around
So that the place where each star fell
Was where a river grew
Taking as its course to the sea
The path of the winter sun.
Many winters the trees slept with me
And the animals walked on my breast
Just as the birds drew near
Seeking warmth from my fire
Which took the sting from the night.
Many winters I have been
Companion to the lonely moon
Chasing after the raging sun
Which listened to our song of thanks
Before releasing earth from winter.
Many winters I have lived
Ever since the beginning of time
When out of the melting snow
Came the first frail flower which said
I am the spirit of spring.
Nancy Wood Literary Trust Donates Photographs to NM History Museum
The Nancy Wood Literary Trust is pleased to announce the donation of 16 Nancy Wood photographic prints to the New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors Photo Archive in May 2018. The vintage silver gelatin prints are signed and matted and include rare portraits of life at Taos Pueblo in the 1980s.
Nancy's photographic work is represented by the Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe, NM.
Cutting Logs for Drums, Taos Pueblo, 1985
Of Mountains and Women - June 2018
From Spirit Walker, 1993, by Nancy Wood
The hearts of mountains
and the hearts of women
Are both the same. They beat to
an old rhythm, an old song.
Mountains and women
are made from the sinew of the rock.
Mountains and women
are home to the spirits of the earth.
Mountains and women
are created with beauty all around.
Mountains and women
embrace the mystery of life.
Mountains give patience to women.
Women give fullness to mountains.
Celebrate each mountain, each woman.
Sing songs to mountains and to women.
Dance for them in your dreams.
The spirit of mountains and of women
Will give courage to our children
Long after we are gone.