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Drew Dellinger, Biography
Drew Dellinger is a poet, teacher, rap artist and activist who speaks and writes on justice, ecology and cosmology. Drew received the 1997 Green Dove Award from Common Boundary magazine "for innovative work integrating ecology, and spirituality." Drew has spoken and performed at numerous conferences, schools, teach-ins and protests around the U.S., and has taught college courses on new cosmology, interpersonal communications, radical feminism, the civil rights movement, and confronting racism and sexism. His poetry, essays and lyrics have appeared in various books and magazines including YES!, EarthLight, Creation Spirituality, and In Context, and the anthologies Writing from the Red Zone: Voices of the Anti-Globalization Movement and Global Uprising: Confronting the Tyrannies of the 21st Century.
A close friend and student of author Thomas Berry, Drew has given more than a hundred presentations on Berry's understanding of ourselves as part of the story of the universe. He founded the rap group Sweet Acidophilus, and the cosmology resource center, The Center of the Universe. He has been involved in mass mobilizations for global justice and democracy and currently works with the activist group Art & Revolution and serves on the faculty of the Master of Arts Program at Prescott College.
Drew has been a regular performer at the Techno Cosmic Mass since 1996.
Ancestors and Angels
Drew Dellinger c2001
it's been said that in Western civilization,
in the Western mind,
time is viewed as linear:
we're standing in the present
facing the future
with the past, and the ancestors
behind us
but in Indigenous spirituality,
in the Native mind,
time is like a river that flows in a circle
we walk in the footsteps of the ancestors who
have wandered the earth before us,
then journeyed on to other worlds.
we follow them
the ancestors are in front of us
I write words to catch up to the ancestors
I write words to catch up to the ancestors
an angel told me the only way to walk through
fire
without getting burned
is to become fire
some days angels whisper in my ear as I walk
down the street
and I fall in love with every person I meet
and I think, "maybe this could be a bliss
like when Dante met Beatrice"
other days all I see is my collusion with illusion
ghosts of projection
ghosts of projection
masquerading as the radiant angel of love
you know, I feel like the ancestors brought us together
I feel like
the ancestors brought us here and they expect
great things
they expect us to say what we think and
live how we feel and
follow the hard paths that bring us near to joy
they expect us to
nurture all the children
I write poems to welcome angels and conjure ancestors
I pray to the angels of politics and love
I pray for justice sake
I pray for justice sake
not to be relieved of my frustrations
at the same time burning sage and asking
ancestors for patience
I march with the people to the border between
nations where
everything stops
except the greed of corporations
thoughts like comets
thoughts like comets
calculating the complexity of the complicity
there's so much noise in the oceans now
the whales can barely hear each other
there's so much noise in the oceans
we're making the whales crazy
we're driving the dolphins insane
what kind of ancestors are we?
have we abandoned "the better angels of our nature"?
what kind of ancestors are we?
thoughts like comets leaving craters
in the landscape of my consciousness
I pray to ancestors and angels
meet me in the garden
meet me where spirit walks softly
in the cool of the evening
meet me in the garden
under the wings of the bird of many colors
meet me in the garden of your longing
every breath is a pilgrimage
every breath is a pilgrimage to you
I pray to be a conduit
angel told me:
the only way to walk through fire -
become fire
Return to top
Hymm to the Sacred Body of the Universe
let's meet
at the confluence
where you flow into me
and one breath
swirls between our lungs
for one instant
to dwell in the presence of the galaxies
for one instant
to live in the truth of the heart
the poet says this entire travelling cosmos
is "the secret one slowly growing a body"
two eagles are mating--clasping each other's
claws and turning cartwheels in the sky
grasses are blooming
grandfathers dying
consciousness blinking on and off
all of this is happening at once
all of this, vibrating into existence
out of nothingness
every particle
foaming into existence
transcribing the ineffable
arising and passing away
arising and passing away
arising and passing away
23 trillion times per second
when Buddha saw that,
he smiled
16 million tons of rain are falling every second
on the planet, an ocean, perpetually falling
and every drop is your body
every motion, every feather, every thought
is your body
time
is your body
and the infinite curled inside
like invisible rainbows folded into light
every word of every tongue is love telling a story
to her own ears
every word of every tongue is love telling a story
to her own ears
let our lives be incense burning like a hymn to
the sacred body of the universe
my religion is rain, my religion is stone, my
religion reveals itself to me in sweaty epiphanies
every creature, every species is your body
so yes I protest
and I just say no
to the IMF, World Bank and WTO
because that primate species that went extinct
last week
was your body
10 million people are dreaming
that they're flying
junipers and violets are blossoming
stars exploding and being born
god is having deja vu
I am one elaborate crush
we cry petals
as the void is singing
you are the dark that holds the stars
in intimate distance
and spun the whirling, whirling, world
into existence
let's meet
at the confluence
where you flow into me
and one breath
swirls between our lungs
Return to top
At Historic Sweets Ballroom:
1933 Broadway, Oakland
(between 19th & 20th near the 19th Street BART Station)
510-893-3500
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