The River

By Jim Harrison

Yes, we’ll gather by the river,

the beautiful, the beautiful river.

They say it runs by the throne of God.

This is where God invented fish.

Wherever, but then God’s throne is as wide

as the universe. If you’re attentive you’ll

see the throne’s borders in the stars. We’re on this side

and when you get to the other side we don’t know

what will happen if anything. If nothing happens

we won’t know it, I said once. Is that cynical?

No, nothing is nothing, not upsetting just

nothing. Then again maybe we’ll be cast

at the speed of light through the universe

to God’s throne. His hair is bounteous.

All the 5,000 birds on earth were created there.

The firstborn cranes, herons, hawks, at the back

so as not to frighten the little ones.

Even now they remember this divine habitat.

Shall we gather at the river, this beautiful river?

We’ll sing with the warblers perched on his eyelashes.

Dear Everyone,

As I’m sure y’all can tell from the weather it’s just about time for the latest episode of the infamous Winter Gathering! We are so excited to see you, whoever you are, and we figured we ought to send out a little info about the event seeing as it’s supposedly coming up so soon.

July 1st – 3rd in the Irish Hills of South East Michigan. Gates open Friday at 2pm

Relax your breath
lean into yourself
here’s what I know is true
the sun hasn’t left
the sea still has depth
the rain is still wet
try not to forget we’re not so bereft
so here’s a bell that still rings true
there’s still something left, still something left for you
You’re not wrong things are a mess,
but there’s still something left –M.M.  

We usually gather in winter and brood over all the doom and gloom, but after 15 years of that kind of thing this year we are feeling like taking some time to celebrate the good things that are still left of life here in the later years of civilization. The living, growing, communicating earth. The song of the world. The bright summer sun of friendships old and new.  

This gathering has been built on the foundations of beautiful music, wild nature,  critique of civilization, and anarchistic spirituality, but the rest of the building is a nomad’s tent reconstructed anew each year by whoever happens to arrive and whatever they bring. Part cattail, part birch bark, part buffalo hide, part plastic bag. As we daily work to make a home in this place your presence completes something that can never be finished in time, but can be continued in the eternal present. When a bunch of us get together in person we are both the pretty flowers and the pollinators searching for the nectar of the gods, both the neon lights and the thirsty drunks, the songbirds singing, listening and migrating towards community. Point is we need each other, so don’t be a stranger, even if you are one. Hey, there’s always room for one more!

A summer storm absolves us all, and the tent of this gathering is torn, No longer a small shelter, now we are a complex ecosystem. This year you get to explore the landscape at the peak of growth, and green, and light. Renter the living complications of long term friendships. The thorns and the berries that we have been to each other over the years. Make new friends who show up like long lost local species emerging from the seed bank saying “Surprise!”

And what else are you going to do anyway? Go to Cornerstone Music Festival? Ships sailed. I mean the Winter Gathering aint’ no Audio Feed, but I think you’ll still have a good time, and besides it’s free.

What’s better than a summer night with music and friends to cure us of our pointless cynicism? Driving with the windows rolled down. Who cares how much gas costs? Just get here. All the winter gathering really tries to do is open a space, a road to community so we can exchange news face to face in a beautiful place to a good soundtrack with a few activities that serve as conversation pieces set at our communal table. We’ve never planned for the future, but every year someone says, “Hey, do that again!” So, here we go…

There will be an area to pitch a tent. Bring you’re own everything. There will be classes on everything from how to forage wild food to how to identify butterflies, a talk on ecological restoration, lots of music including theillalogicalspoon, and much more!

Contact Jeremy at 517-435-6079 with questions.

Dear friends and family, Happy Valentine’s Day! Here in Michigan the snow and cold remain for now and I am thankful for it. We all know the spring is so beautiful and everything, but it is also a time when life gets so busy again. I, for one, could use a little more time with the dark and stillness of the winter, dreaming by the woodstove. Actually, we have not been idle this season. As some of you know we’ve spent the time we’ve had working on a Little Spoon River album. We recently finished tracking and are now in the mixing phase and are excited to share with you a short clip from the rough mix in progress. Listen here at https://theillalogicalspoon.bandcamp.com/. We hope to be ready to release the CD this summer. This project is probably the closest we’ll ever get to writing an album of love songs, but be warned they are not all fun and games, yet I don’t think they are cynical either. We still believe in the power of love. And we love you, whoever you are, just the way you are. XOXO, Little Spoon River O, here it comes again! Love is a spring wind swirling around and in-between us and all our lovers and even our enemies. I know they say that love is our true home but underneath this Hunger Moon I’m all alone and eating bones I know that there is still nutrition in the marrow I’ve read Walden a couple of times so, “suck it” Henry David Thoreau Right now I can only hear the cracking of the ice the lake is freezing up again I drain another bottle of wine