A Conference on the Mythopoetic Imagination

Mar 23, 2019

The Pursuit of Dermot and Grainne An Irish story. A telling by Martin Shaw. Finn alone as dawn comes. Not the visionary, prophet, warrior, but Finn as bleak widow, of spasmed back, fragile knee, grey…

Mar 13, 2019

Dear friends, As soon as March lopes in, your faces start to get a little clearer, your dearness more acute. One more push into spring and will be entering the marvellous back at Camp Kieve…

Jan 15, 2019

Baba Yaga: The Ambiguous Mother and Witch of the Russian Folktale Andreas Johns Invoking Ireland John Moriarty Over Nine Waves Marie Heaney The Dream and the Underworld James Hillman The Night Wages(February 2019) Martin Shaw…

Mar 08, 2018

The Huntress An Inuit story. A telling by Martin Shaw. There was a woman who dreamt of the sea. Back when there was a village called Tikeraq, there lived a man and a woman. But it’s…

Dec 03, 2017

Book Title Author Scatterlings: Getting Claimed in the Age of Amnesia Martin Shaw A Branch from the Lightning Tree: Ecstatic Myth & the Grace in Wildness Snowy Tower: Parzival and the Wet Black Branch of…

Nov 29, 2017

An excerpt from a forthcoming interview in OYA online magazine. Consider gathering with Tony Hoagland and Dr. Martin Shaw mid-Decemeber in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Details here.   ….Many of us are lonely. And not…

Nov 21, 2017

THE KING AND QUEEN MUST WED THE LAND: Romanticism as Activism An Evening of Story and Poetry with Dr. Martin Shaw & Tony Hoagland Friday, December 15, 2017  7-9PM Myth insists that in each of us a great…

Apr 12, 2017

  Present A poem by Ann Arbor written on June 1, 2016 during 42nd Annual Conference I’m here on the back deck made of rusty nails and weather beaten boards. Here where the chokecherry blossoms…

Mar 25, 2017

Workshop with Martin Shaw and Paul Kingsnorth We live in strange, shifting times. The impossible becomes normal every day, and those who are supposed to understand how the world works - media, pollsters, pundits -…

Mar 18, 2017

How I Became a Tedious Eco-Poet A poem by Sam Mansfield Be joyful / though you have considered all the facts. – Wendell Berry It was after I considered all the facts It was because…

Jan 18, 2017

                  On the Way Home from the Wildlife Sanctuary A poem by Dale Rosenkrantz You found no arrows in the rainy forest – Elizabeth McKim On the…

Dec 14, 2016

And I Let the Fish Go A poem by Abbot Cuttler When certain emotions show up I find it is best to dismiss them as if they are careful vassals entering the court of my…

Nov 16, 2016

Waking A poem by Audrey Gidman I step into my body as though I am a temple making holy the dirt. Here              I crack myself open     like an eggshell…

Oct 12, 2016

Book Title Author The Odyssey Homer (translation, Robert Fagles Homeric Moments: Clues to Delight in Reading the Odyssey and the Iliad Eva Brann The Mighty Dead: Why Homer Matters Adam Nicholson Regarding Penelope: From Character…

Dec 12, 2015

The Listener From the Seneca story: Haton-dos, the Listener. A telling by Martin Shaw. There was once a boy making trouble in the village. There’s always a boy making trouble in the village. He was sent…

Dec 03, 2015

Book Title Author Ensouling Language and the Art of Non-Fiction Stephen Buhner Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm Stephen Buhner Nocturnes of the Brothel of Ruin Patrick Donnelly The Charge Patrick Donnelly The Eternal City…

Nov 05, 2015

Robert Bly: A Thousand Years of Joy - Official Trailer (2014) from Haydn Reiss on Vimeo. Robert Bly: A Thousand Year of Joy A Film by haydn Reiss Robert Bly is one of America’s most…

Aug 06, 2015

In Beauty It's Begun A song by Doug Von Koss In beauty it's begun In beauty it's begun In beauty it's begun In beauty it's begun It's beautiful to left of me It's beautiful to…

Dec 06, 2014

Snowy Tower A book talk by Martin Shaw In Snowy Tower, Dr. Martin Shaw continues his trilogy of works on the relationship between myth, wilderness, and a culture of wildness. In this second book, he…

Dec 06, 2014

Gabriel: A Poem An excerpt by Edward Hirsch Edward Hirsch reads from "Gabriel: A Poem," a heart-wrenching elegy for his son, who died in 2011. Mixing sorrow, bewilderment from death, strange hope, and human grief,…

Dec 05, 2014

Book Title Author Tristan Gottfried Von Strassburg trans: A. T. Hatto We: Understanding the Psychology of Romantic Love Robert Johnson The Tree of Meaning Robert Bringhurst Becoming Animal Trans: David Abram Feral George Monbiot Landscape…

Nov 06, 2014

Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul A book by Stephen Jenkinson A book about grief, and dying, and the great love of life. © 2014, Orphan Wisdom Film by Ian MacKenzie

Oct 06, 2014

The Crow-King and the Red-Bead Woman A Yakut Folktale telling by Martin Shaw *** What follows is the bones of the Crow-King story and then a stanzas version that is arising from the actual experience…

Aug 12, 2014

A Walk around Camp Kieve A photo tour by KieveWavus

Feb 06, 2014

Combing the Dragons Hair: The Earth-Gnome A version by Martin Shaw There was once an elderly King with three daughters. As he grew towards the end of his life, he became obsessed with an apple…

Dec 03, 2013

Inside this Clay Jug A poem by Kabir, Translation by Robert Bly Inside this clay jug there are canyons and pine mountains, and the maker of canyons and pine mountains! All seven oceans are inside,…

Dec 03, 2013

Book Title Author The Souls Code James Hillman The Demon and the Angel: Searching for the Source of Artistic Inspiration Edward Hirsch Folk Tales from Russia Olga Shartse The Earth-Gnome Wanda Gag Stealing Sugar From…

Apr 17, 2013

Sending A Voice Written by Martin Shaw As I sit by the window looking out at the spluttering rain that seems to constitute a Devon spring, it seems hard to conceive that in just six…

Jan 06, 2013

The Woman With The Gold Between Her Teeth The Four Tasks of Desire  A letter by Martin Shaw The Great Mother Conference June 1st-9th 2013 “Between my breasts there are quails, they must think I’m…

Dec 21, 2012

  Requests for Toy Piano A poem by Tony Hogland Play the one about the family of the ducks where the ducks go down to the river and one of them thinks the water will…

Dec 06, 2012

Book Title Author Amor and Psyche: The Psychic Development of the Feminine Erich Neumann Alchemy of the Soul: The Eros and Psyche Myth as a Guide to Transformation Martin Lowenthal The Golden Ass of Apuleius:…

Dec 06, 2012

Stealing Sugar from the Castle A poem by Robert Bly We are poor students who stay after school to study joy. We are like those birds in the India mountains. I am a widow whose…

Dec 06, 2012

Bougainvillea A Poem by Matthew Dickman I like the inner lives of the silverware; the fork, the spoon, the knife. I appreciate how they each have a different reference toward god, how the fork is Muslim, the spoon, like…

Dec 06, 2012

Walking the Story A Story by Martin Shaw What follows is a 'walking the story' - Martin Shaw walking the land (in this case Dartmoor National Park in England) - covering a physical geography that…

Aug 06, 2012

How This Wealth Came to Be A Poem by Robert Bly It's hard to know how all this wealth came to be. Ishmael was not created from a fight with a whale. The ocean is…

Aug 05, 2012

How can we possibly unravel the package enough to allow the magic to weave each one of us together? It doesn’t feel like it’s been two months since I have had to tell everyone to…

Jun 06, 2012

Growing Wings A Poem by Robert Bly It's all right if Cezanne goes on painting the same picture. It's all right if juice tastes bitter in our mouths. It's all right if the old man…

Dec 06, 2011

Robert Bly Reads Kabir in 2011 Accompanied by Marcus Wise on tabla and David Whetstone on sitar. Friend, Hope for the Guest While You Are Alive Friend, hope for the Guest while you are alive.…

Dec 06, 2011

Call and Answer A poem by Robert Bly Tell me why it is we don’t lift our voices these days And cry over what is happening. Have you noticed The plans are made for Iraq…

Dec 06, 2011

What Was Said to the Rose A Poem by Jalaluddin Rumi, Translation by Coleman Barks What was said to the rose that made it open
was said to me here in my chest. What was told…

Nov 06, 2011

The Greek Ships A poem by Robert Bly When the water holes go, and the fish flop about In the mud, they can moisten each other faintly, But it's best if they lose themselves in…

Dec 09, 2010

Cleaning Up After The Poetry Salon A Poem by Doug Von Koss It's not always easy. Proper nouns are manageable. They stack well. Biggest on the bottom The Great Plains, Idaho, Mt. Rainier - then…

Dec 06, 2005

The Emperor Has No Clothes An Article 

By Robert Bly In reality, the horrible event called the Bush presidency is over now. It remains only to start the sort of planning that enabled MacArthur to…