The Two Boots Word Vault

Scott King, who published each of us at one time or another, has since died. Tom Hennen is no longer able to venture out.  Thomas R. Smith and I feel so privileged to have read with them as part of the Como Cottage Salon Series. April 23, 2016. 

In May 1988 I reprised poems I had written while working in the Frogtown neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota.  I wrote these three poems in the election year of 1984 about my ancestral neighborhood, which some 40 years later has rejuvenated commercially and maintains a cultural vitality. I ask my musician friends to please excuse my lack of muscianship in favor of the poetry.

In this episode I read an essay published in the summer of the year 2000. It addresses the excursions of Youth to the edge of culture, especially the At-risk youth I taught at the Red Wing Youth Correctional Facility. And I explain how I used traditional folktales to prod the young men toward usefulness.

Perfect Harmony is one of the world's finest spiritual poems, by the master Ibn El Arabi.  This version was recorded in 2010 at Worldview Studios in Minnesota.  Dalyce Elliott composed and performed the music for Timothy's version. Dan Cavanagh composed the interludes which were played by the Aurora String Quartet.

Here are two long poems about our singing adventures. From 2010 to 2012 I drove to New Orleans to sing with The Sturgeon Lake Bottomfeeders Medicine Lodge at the 29 hour Bach-Around-The-Clock, a celebration for Bach's birthday.  Musical groups of various genres gathered and performed for 29 hours straight.  We were an acapella group who had met and sang at numerous Minnesota Men's Conferences, and were invited by our friend, Dr. Bob Roberts, who hosted us.  At the end of this podcast is a short clip, a sample of what we sang in Trinity Episcopal Church of New Orleans, site of the Bach-Around-The Clock.

After 37 years working for the State of Minnesota, upon retirement I took a pilgrimage from the source of the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.  As one part of my life died and the next began, I wrote this long poem about the trip. It was published as a chapbook by the University of Wisconsin Madison Library's Parallel Press in 2013.   The opening music is from Pundela's Farewell by The SpiritHouse Quartet. The end music is the musical accompaniment of Glen Helgeson on the poem Tears with Timothy Young on their CD, Riding a Dark Wind

This episode has 9 of my poems with musical accompaniment from three CDs and one live performance.  Over the years I have had great experiences reading my poems with wonderful musicians. Here are Dalyce Elliott, Glen Helgeson, and Michael Bissonette on Perfect Harmony, Glen Helgeson, David Ballman and Mark Anderson on Riding the Dark Wind,, Yata, Burce Hecksel, and Dalyce on Snow Has Fallen, and Dalyce, Gary Waryan, Jeff Waryan, and Michelle Kinney of SpiritHouse Quartet.

On April 27, 2024 men from the Minnesota Men's Conference met in Duluth, MN to talk about the impact of Prose writing upon the individual, the community, and men's souls.  This is Timothy Young's presentation on the prose pieces, novels, and essays, that helped him break from one stage of consciousness to the next.

Fellow Minnesota poet, Tim Nolan, invited me to series' season finale.   It was a wonderful audience of knowledgeable folks interested in Minnesota poetry. The opening music is from Pundela's Farewell by The SpiritHouse Quartet. The end music is the musical accompaniment of Glen Helgeson on the poem Tears with Timothy Young on their CD, Riding a Dark Wind

In late August and early September 2008 a number of poets, musicians, and storytellers associated with the Minnesota Men's Conferences and Robert Bly had been invited to the UK to perform over a period of two weeks. This troupe of artistic brigands included Robert Bly, Martin Shaw, Danny Deardorff, Judith-Kate Friedman, Thomas R. Smith, Jay Leeming, Ben Dennis, Timothy Young, the Brothers Frantzich, Tim and Paul, and Gioia Timpanelli.  We were guests at the West Country Storytelling Festival, various coffeehouses, radio programs, schools, and other venues.  Martin's home in Ashburton, Devon served as our base, and friends, Jonny Bloor, Sarah Delfont, Joe Delfont, and many others gave us generous assistance throughout.  This episode is Part 2 and shows how much fun we had sharing poems.
The opening music is from Pundela's Farewell by The Spirit House Quartet. The end music is the musical accompaniment of Glen Helgeson on the poem Tears with Timothy Young on their CD, Riding a Dark Wind