Moon Sun Night sky turning its stellar seeds into the mesa Wind Rain Snouts and bellies of cloud crowding over the ridge Ocean Waves The on-again-endless Booming of whitened, clapping hands Pelican, gull, curlew Heron, tern, cormorant Egret walking the white shadow of dawn cambering wings All A garment of life Kelp skirting the strand marking the arc of the strand. All An edge upon edge Gulls swirling in morning light Anemone gesticulating in filling tide pools All Crossing the boundary of each Within them Anisq'oyo Within the sun's course, moon's course Night sky course Within the wind's high highway its hoop of rain Within the boundary of ocean, its limit of wave All circling here Surrounding you Anisq'oyo Deep rooted earth of the center All the dancing, turning of years winds, hours All the singing of things Is for you All the singing is you Empty my voice and fill it With your voice Empty my heart and fill it With your heart Wind voice, rain voice, pelican voice Cormorant heart, ocean heart, night sky heart Heart that is always singing itself To its own center Sing me, make me yourself Anisq'oyo 23 January 1984 Campus Point UC Santa Barbara
* The University of California at Santa Barbara straddles a wide, south-facing peninsula framed by two points – Devereux and Goleta Points – and three lagoons. This mix of academic, residential and open space with its small sandstone cliffs facing the Pacific and coastal plain rising quickly behind to sandstone-toothed ridges of the Santa Inez Range was my physical and intellectual home for both undergraduate and graduate work. During that time Chumash elders performed a public ceremony in the middle of this Peninsula and shared the Chumash name of the place – Anisq’oyo.
Mountaineity 