max carmichael: arts portfolio


eohippus all contents copyright 2007 max carmichael		why eohippus? bio contact

arts portfolio: visual arts music writing events design

writing: poetry		back next

moundbuilding in the bend of the river where the road crosses over, where the water is muddy from crop cultivation - in the bend of the river where the sycamores gather, where the paw-paws ripen and the cliff leans over - mound-building, earth-working - building for future generations. mound-building, earth-working - building for future generations. mound-building the old mound-builder made a pile of stones - in the shape of a serpent he covered it over. it was all he left, and he left it forever - in the bend of the river where the sycamores gather. mound-building, earth-working - building for future generations. mound-building, earth-working - building for future generations. mound-building it was all he left, he abandoned the country. he did not see the Sioux nor the Iroquois canoe. he did not see the highway with the cars passing over in the bend of the river where the sycamores gather. mound-building, earth-working - building for future generations. mound-building, earth-working - building for future generations. mound-building	Natural History Songs detail, poster for terra incognita 1984-1995 By the time Katie and I re-formed Terra Incognita and began pursuing a serious career in "alternative" music, the desert had taken hold of me and I'd returned to nature as the primary inspiration for my work. All the songs I wrote for Terra Incognita and Wickiup expressed my fascination with prehistory, ecology, geology, evolution, and indigenous ways of life. In retrospect, however, after years of singing these songs to audiences of drunken bohemians in urban nightclubs, I realized that there were probably audiences and venues that were better suited to songs about meteorites and extinct horses. That point was made for me when Wickiup performed at Oakland's Festival of the Lake and as the adult audience drifted away, more and more children clustered around us. Between songs, they actually asked questions!	eohippus i am eohippus, oldest of my famliy. i am eohippus, oldest of my family. it's my blood that keeps you warm - i visit you when the sun goes away. it's my blood that keeps you warm - i visit you when the sun goes away. i follow you softly on a lonesome trail, wind caressing me with your smell. i follow you softly on a lonesome trail, wind caressing me with your smell. i follow you until the dawn - leave you at the light of day. i follow you until the dawn - leave you at the light of day. watch the way i'm shaking my tail! fanning into the morning sky. watch the way i'm shaking my tail! fanning into the morning sky. see the shape i leave to haunt you - see the shape i leave to haunt you - feathery cloud is still above you. feathery cloud... i am eohippus, oldest of my famliy. i am eohippus, oldest of my family. oldest of my family.