Anyone else remember Chris in the Morning from Northern Exposure? Riding into town on his motorcycle, wearing his leather jacket, living in his airstream, contemplating life's mysteries and waxing poetic on KBHR...

On this episode, I tell a story about a traveling green Bigfoot ballcap, recap a visit to Roslyn, Washington, where Northern Exposure -the greatest TV show of all time- was filmed, and pay homage to one of the main inspirations for this very podcast.

I've been waiting and wondering when I'd finally record this episode. It's something I've been thinking about since day one. Guess it took a visit to Northern Exposure's origins to finally dig into the origins of The Ponca Poet's Podcast.

And if you need to hear me say it, I'll say it: this is easily one of my favorite episodes I've ever recorded. Yahoo!!!

So, grab a mug of your favorite beverage, get ready for a little Cicely, Alaska, and enjoy!!!

"There's a dark side to each and every human soul. We wish we were Obi-Wan Kenobi, and for the most part we are, but there's a little Darth Vader in all of us. Thing is, this ain't no either-or proposition. We're talking about dialectics, the good and the bad merging into us. You can run but you can't hide. My experience? Face the darkness. Stare it down. Own it. As brother Nietzsche said, being human is a complicated gig. So give that ol' dark night of the soul a hug. Howl the eternal yes!"

-Chris Stevens

For more episodes of The Ponca Poet's Podcast, please check out my Patreon and consider joining the poetry-and-storytelling community there.

Also, please feel free to support my work in the world via my PayPal: [email protected] or my Venmo: cliffponca

Weblaho!

“Hey brother, you ever been to a men’s conference?”

On this episode, I share some words about the men’s conference I recently attended -The Cascadia Men’s Conference- as well as a poem that I meant to get to but didn’t during my reading at the conference, titled One of Our Tasks.

The Cascadia Men’s Conference was so beautiful, profound, deep, transformative, that I’ve been itching to find some time to record this episode, and I’m so glad that that time was finally found.

Men need men’s work. Indigenous men need men’s work. Men are hurting, and a lot of what we all grew up around in terms of what it means to be a man was highly misguided -like the bad parts of America all had a talk and then created some botched model for our masculinity.

Men need older sources to teach them about who they are: elders, old stories, grief-practices, ritual, Nature, brotherhood, safe spaces with other men, dance, song, instruction from the ancestors; and on and on, in that direction. 

If this speaks to you, this episode of the Ponca Poet’s Podcast is for you. 

Special thanks to Ian Mackenzie and the Mythic Masculine Podcast. Ian was the co-organizer of the Cascadia Men’s Conference and his podcast has been my go-to for men’s work for years.

So, grab a mug of your favorite beverage, make some prayers for the men in your life, and enjoy!

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And as always, for more episodes of The Ponca Poet's Podcast, please check out my Patreon and consider joining the poetry-and-story-loving community there!

Or donate directly to support the podcast and my work in the world at PayPal [email protected] or Venmo cliffponca

How can we ever get over these crazy old hometowns of ours?

In this episode, I land back in Astoria after two weeks in the Nebraska homelands and share some about that mythology-saturated place of 'deer, corn, and lightning.' Long-ago friends are praised, complicated Columbus is loved up on, a poem is read (of course), and the medicine of it all is spoken out into the world.

So, grab a mug of your favorite beverage, prepare for some heart-traveling, and enjoy!

And as always, for more episodes of The Ponca Poet's Podcast, please consider joining my Patreon. Indigenous storytelling scout's honor, you won't regret it!

Bonus episode!

Found myself once again in my hometown and out came this audio postcard.

Enjoy!

"Do Sundancers dream of Short Circuits too?"

In this episode, we share a moment celebrating that other classic 80s film shot here in Astoria, OR...Short Circuit!

This past weekend was the 40th Anniversary of Short Circuit and the town was alive with fans, actors from the film, and even Johnny Five, the star robot. About to dash back to Nebraska to do sacred tribal things, I caught a lucky wind and was able to visit the house from the film and check out Johnny Five himself. It was a memorable evening. How and why was it memorable? Well, you're going to have to give this episode a listen to find out.

So, grab a mug of your favorite beverage, get out your 80s gear, and enjoy!

And as always, for more sacred wild poetic Indigenous fun, please consider joining The Ponca Poet's Podcast Patreon. You won't regret it!

*Annual Free Patreon Episode, Wherein We See What's Happening Over There!*

What would any of us be/ without our spirituality?

In this episode, we get real and artful and honest about spirituality. It's the inspiration for and saturating undercurrent of this podcast, my poetry, and all of my creative endeavors. It's the light leading the buffalo herd, the engine and mind of the ocean, the source of the cosmos, the consciousness dreaming force inside of all sentient beings, hairy, luminous, winged, burrowing, and otherwise. Can we get a Bigfoot roar for the heart-truth that is our spirituality? JOYOUS BIGFOOT ROAR!!!

So, grab a mug of your favorite beverage, call up your spirit, and enjoy!!!

Who would love to hear an Indigenous interpretation of this classic Grimms' fairy tale?

In this episode, I bring the little people themselves into our examination of the Elves and the Shoemaker, seeing how the fairy tale has much actual truth to share about these sacred little relatives. It's time to remember. It's time to laugh. It's time to get our joy dance on and get real about the little people!

So, grab a mug of your favorite beverage, open your heart to the sacred, and enjoy!

And as always, for more episodes of The Ponca Poet's Podcast please check out my Patreon and consider joining the poetry-and-story-loving community there!

With a heart packed full of good stories we're capable of anything!

In this episode, I tell one of the classics from Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Elves and the Shoemaker. When's the last time you heard about these magical little people and the cobbler who was getting blessed by them? Were you thinking then what I'm thinking now: that this is a bonafide old-world teaching about our sacred little people relatives precisely for us cool common folk? It just might be, but to know for sure we're going to have to cannonball/swan dive our way down into its smile-making tale.

So, grab a mug of your favorite beverage, tip some out to those sweet little people, and enjoy!

And as always, for more episodes of The Ponca Poet's Podcast please check out my Patreon and consider joining the poetry-and-story-loving community there.

What becomes of a person who deeply loves a certain tree?

In this episode, I fist-bump a perfectly wonderful day, detail my opening procedures at the Co-op a bit, and then order my morning praise thoughts into a sonnet about the sweet akebono tree I visit with everyday. 

For more episodes of The Ponca Poet’s Podcast please check out my Patreon and consider joining the poetry-and-story-loving community there. 

Weblaho!!!

As times intensify, we lean into what we must to help each other through them. 

In this episode, I read a poem titled ‘The Changer’ and give love to the all the creative resources we have at hand to employ in the face of today’s most recent injustices and atrocities; I also give love to the indescribable flowing life-giving immensity that is Grandmother Columbia River, leaning into Her as I read, record, fly along. 

So, grab a mug of your favorite beverage, settle in for an infusion of the Poetic Spirit, and enjoy!

And as always, for more episodes of The Ponca Poet’s Podcast please check out my Patreon and consider joining the poetry-and-story-loving community there!