“Call” by Alla Bozarth
Inspired by “Mountain Moving Day,” 1911, by the Japanese Feminist Poet, Yosano Akiko.
There is a new sound
of roaring voices
in the deep
and light-shattered
rushes in the heavens.
The mountains are coming alive,
the fire-kindled mountains,
moving again to reshape the earth.
It is we sleeping women,
waking up in a darkened world,
cutting the chains from off our bodies
with our teeth, stretching our lives
over the slow earth—
Seeing, moving, breathing in
the vigor that commands us
to make all things new.
It has been said that while the women sleep,
the earth shall sleep—
But listen! We are waking up and rising,
and soon our sisters will know their strength.
The earth-moving day is here.
We women wake to move in fire.
The earth shall be remade.
Womanpriest: A Personal Odyssey by Alla Bozarth-Campbell, first edition Paulist Press 1978, New York, New York; revised edition Luramedia 1988, San Diego, California, distributed by bearblessings.com; and Stars in Your Bones: Emerging Signposts on Our Spiritual Journeys by Alla Bozarth, Julia Barkley and Terri Hawthorne, North star Press of St. Cloud 1990, St. Cloud, Minnesota; and on the audiocassette, Water Women, Wisdom House 1990, Sandy, Oregon. “Call” was put to music by internationally renowned composer, Joan Szymko, and premiered in Fall of 1997, and reprised as the feature piece for the 2015 International Women’s Day spring concert, “Dare to Be Powerful,” by Aurora Chorus in Portland, Oregon.
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Alla Bozarth Artist Statement:
Alla Renee Bozarth is a Russian, Celtic, Osage American poet, Episcopal priest, soul caregiver and writer who lives at the foot of Mt. Hood in Western Oregon and has published 20 prose and poetry books and 4 audio albums with 14 more large poetry collections, 7 small books and 2 CDs being prepared for publication. Alla has written award winning poetry for over 40 years, beginning with an Academny of American Poets Award in 1970. Her poems are widely used all over the world, often in collaboration with visual artists, singers, and dancers. See her website:interviewwithallareneebozarthaboutwritingandpoetry.com.
