Poet Jailed
Newsletter for the World of Word by Elias Tobias
Poet Elias Tobias was in the crowbar hotel charged with
violating terms of his poetic license until his wife, Patty, paid the bail
at the WestFest on Sept. 29 at the Eitejorg Musuem of American Indian
and Western Art in Indianapolis. As long as he volunteerly paid a year’s
membership to the museum and agreed to serve as a volunteer there
for community service, he was free to enjoy the rest of the entertainment and displays at the one-day western festival. One of the entertainers
was famous cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell. Tobias was all smiles when
he stopped to pose by the stagecoach before taking it on a ride back
to his house.*
Wildfire
I am the person who starts the fires of inquiry,
the spark of wonderings and investigation.
Through hundreds of smoldering ashes,
I try to burn forests of fear and ignorance,
and I hope the seeds of knowledge will be sown
in the barren, blackened ground.
Soon, if nature takes its course, a new crop
of plants will bud and strong trees will grow.
The precious soil will be protected from
the winds of change, water damage and
erosion of successful attitudes and methods.
Some think it best to put out the rapidly
spreading flames of wildfires because they
want to protect their lives, homes, and their
property built by keeping people illiterate.
The power over people lies in the control,
access and the uses of knowledge, and
written words can last for hundreds of years.
* For those who could not see through my satire, and for the record,
neither Elias Tobias nor the Eitejorg Musuem of American Indian
and Western Art did anything wrong, implicity or otherwise.
Besides the stage coach ride was a fancy motion machine incapable
of leaving the property. It’s a cool museum where my wife and decided
to have a dual membership before we went in the place so we could go
back again for future events, possibly as volunteers. Patty’s getting
better at taking pictures, too.