Grabbing a bite to eat at Forward Foods in Norman, I casually picked up a copy of “Thislandpress,” and was struck by Woody Guthrie’s powerful poem with dancing imagery, the Woody Guthrie festival happening in a few days, and his daughter’s equally powerful words (listen to the broadcast)!
I Say to You Woman and Man
I’ll say to you, woman, come out from your home and be the wild dancer of my breed.
Draw from a page from booklet of Woody Guthrie sheet music and lyrics (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I’ll say to my man, come out of your walls and move in your space as free and as wild as my woman.
I’m married and wed to a dancer in my front line and the ways she moves while I beat my skin drum would knock your soul and your lights out.
I beat my old drum skin and sing to my big family, you, Arlo, you, Stacks, you Teeny, you Stew Ball, you, Bill, you Marjorie
Come out from your made walls and out from your sins and out from your sick spell and dance to high glory.
You poor sick head poet that sung to my woman to stay here in these sod walls and laze around sleepy and doze around sheepy while your man is the one to go out and see action. You jail home poets are dead in my dust. I sing your song but I sing it backwards.
I say to my woman dance out of our home.
Page from booklet of Woody Guthrie sheet music and lyrics (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Dance out and see fighting.
Dance out and see people.
Dance out to run factories.
Dance out to see street meats.
Dance out in the deep stream.
Dance out to your vote box.
Dance down to your office.
Dance over to your counter.
Dance up your big stairs.
If your husband gets jealous, dance out to new lovers.
If your man keeps your heat tied, dance out and untie it.
Dance out to sing equal.
Dance up and be pretty.
Dance around and be free.
And if I just had this one thing to say to a husband it would be these words:
Go dance.
That’s all.
Just jump up and let go and dance.
Dance in your own way.
Sing your own song.
Whoop your own kind of a yell in the start and in the finish of your dance.
Mammy of nature gave birth to you in her body and hills. You give birth now to old female mommy nature in the male feelings and rivers.
Go dance.
Both of you.
Go dance.
—Woody Guthrie
Published in Plainspoken Thislandpress.com, Heartfelt, Vol. 4, Issue 13, July 1, 2013 on the eve of the Woody Guthrie Festival July 10-13, 2013, Okemah, Oklahoma. Woody would be 101 years old, July 14.
Related articles
- Hear Nora Guthrie read the poem and speak about her father: Episode 9: This Machine Comes Home (thislandpress.com)
- GUIDE: The 2013 Woody Guthrie Folk Festival (thislandpress.com)
- Hear Nora Guthrie talk about her father; listen all the way to the end for Woody Guthrie singing: Guthrie Archive (wnyc.org)
- Coming Home: The Woody Guthrie Center Opens In Tulsa (npr.org)
SimpleSeeingBeing 