When We Missed the Elephant In the Room.

This past Spring we were due to see an Ani diFranco concert in Las Vegas. We drove the requisite 5 hours, ran late arriving to the show, went to the wrong venue, arrived at the correct one extraordinarily late only to stand in line outside the Hard Rock for an additional 20 minutes before the security crew came round to dismiss us all. Ani was sick.

Now, you might find it interesting, but I am not the epic fan, that's Hubby's role. The show was rescheduled... for a date when he would be in Alaska. His hopes & joy were all but shattered, so we nursed his aching heart with free drinks in front of the penny slots at the Monte Carlo & all the while, I had this feeling that we were missing something important...

I was recently reminded of all this by a posting over at poet Annie Finch's website inquiring about a new poem Ani read at one of her recent shows. Annie had been given only a few lines of the piece & was hoping someone complete it for her. I found the poem in its entirety, but for the life of me, I cannot find a way to send it to her. Perhaps she has already found it herself. Or not. C'est la vie I suppose, unless someone who knows how to contact her comes across this post. So, just in case, I throw it out here into the ether.


Besides, after reading it, I think it has a place here. Watch it. Read it. Several times.





A Poem by Ani diFranco, transcribed by "Shawn," posted by "francoapple" in the onherown.net forums. Thanks guys.

The Elephant in the Room, by Ani diFranco 

Together at our river source
Two streams join with equal force
And then naturally find their course
through all the froth and the churning  

First comforting and then haranguing
Nature forever yin-ing and yang-ing
The end well pots and pans a' clanging
And with each turn learning  

Together at our river source
Two streams join with equal force
But the water will change it's course
If one should surge ahead  

And in the fundaments of religion
Behold the patriarchal vision
To take creation away from women
And bid us prey to the Father instead  

Look at the leaders of nations
At the architects of social relations
At all the distorted manifestations
Of the world of the humanoid  

So many glorious inventions
Triumphs too numerous to mention
And yet we've lost our true intention
It's been cast into the void  

And just because the truth is written
And the writers of history smitten
Don't mean an opposite truth ain't hidden
And the way still quite unclear  

Yes cooperation trumps competition
As the engine of evolution
And if I were Darwin's girlfriend
I would've whispered that in his ear  

Give the witches back their brooms
Give the weavers back their looms
Chase the elephant from the room
At long long last  

Send some scouts ahead up river
Heed the messages they deliver
And while the moon is still a sliver
Try not to move too fast  

It will be a slow unwinding
Of these ties that have been binding
From a masculine that's been blinding
To a pulsing give and take  

It will be a slow reinvention
Of our underlying intention
Til relationship and connection
Be the thread we dare not break  

My body is your body
No such thing as separation
It takes a quantum explanation
To explain what Mothers know  

And by all means pursue your science
Celebrate your many triumphs
But know the wheel is always turning
Whether or not you say it's so  

Women, you must do nature's bidding
With a force that isn't kidding
When all the pain you've been forbidding
Comes back brutal and divine  

Women, you must face the terror
Be the feeder, be the bearer
Women please don't make the error
Of just falling right in line  

Let us all go back to college
Grow the shadow side of knowledge
Let's collectively acknowledge
The elephant in the room  

People peace is born a bounce
And the twenty first century challenge
Is to remain God, the mother
And spaceship Earth, her fertile womb  

This one's for the files.