The mountain moving day is coming
I say so yet others doubt it
Only a while the mountain sleeps
In the past all mountains moved in fire
Yet you may not believe it
O man this alone believe
All sleeping women now awake and move
All sleeping women now awake and move
All sleeping women now awake and move.

Mountain Moving Day
by Yosano Akiko

Linda Metzner conducts a rehearsal of The Mountain Moving Day

The Mountain Moving Day is coming to the mountains of Western North Carolina in October. Weaverville poet, composer and teacher Annelinde Metzner took the title for her upcoming multi-media production from Yosano Akiko's 1913 poem. Linda explains the aptness of the mountain metaphor:

"There is something nascent within all people, and particularly within women, that is ready to express itself, just as a mountain can express itself, as a powerful being."

References to natural phenomena abound in the thirteen poems that provide the lyrics as well as the inspiration for The Mountain Moving Day. Linda has been setting these poems to music for five years, choosing poems that have inspired her for their meaning and power. The Mountain Moving Day includes works by Linda, Marge Piercy, Alice Walker, Paula Gunn Allen, Denise Levertov, and others. Cultures represented poetically include Native American, Eastern European, African American and Asian.

All ticket sales from the three October performances will benefit Helpmate, a local domestic violence agency. Linda believes that "the work that is done by Helpmate everyday to empower women is not dreamy theory but unimpeachable fact… A women's shelter is a litmus test of where we stand in our treatment of women and children."

Linda finds that while some poems are complete in themselves, others lend themselves to other forms of expression. As one of the artistic goals of The Mountain Moving Day has been to give her favorite poets' works wider exposure, she has amplified their work through orchestrations that include a 16-woman chorus, a small chamber ensemble of strings, piano and percussion, solo soprano, the spoken word, and movement. Dance, synthesized music and visuals that echo the strongest of the songs' images add to a mix that promises an exciting and moving performance. Rehearsals of the chorus have been ongoing since January. Soloists have been on board since a year ago.

She said, Whale, give me your bones.
Blackfin, give me their slopes and hills.
Bring me the mountains, whale.
Give me your bones

Jana Harris, "Beneath the Pole of Proud Raven"

After her, the women and the men weave blankets into tales of life…

Paula Gunn Allen, "Grandmother"

In a poem by American poet, Jana Harris, the totem pole gets all her power from beings of nature. In another, an elder grandmother from Czechoslovakia appears and a flower blossoms and glows like a star. In another, a grandmother is weaving a strand in her body that's woven from life itself. Visual images are a metaphor for the powers within us that come from nature. Part of the inherent legacy of all humans is the power within all humans and nature that we can choose to use.

Linda's creative process began first with composing on the piano. She recently entered the computer revolution and now composes on a synthesizer as well. The resulting score is a complex weave of two alto sections, two soprano sections, plus the solo, speaking, and instrumental parts. The computer allows her to print selected scores for all of the participants and to produce practice tapes as well.

During the composing, Linda frequently found that the emotions expressed in the verses were so strong, or the images so powerful, that she would be forced to get up and leave the room. Yet she would return, compelled by her belief that "art is a conduit for powerful emotions, so that other people can experience them. Part of finding our voice is not parroting what we've been taught or what we are expected to reflect. It is exploring what we truly feel and honoring these true experiences."

we the kneaders of bread,
we, the grinders of corn,
we, the sowers of wheat
in the shadow of missiles

Teresa Anderson, "Kneading Bread"

Some poems speak of the forms of violence against women, whether intimate like the kind that Helpmate deals with, random in a culture not respectful of women, or political: images of women exiled, of women and their children as refugees, witnesses to war and the devastation of nature.

“Violence that women experience severely cuts them off from their sense of personal power, leaving them not present, not fully participating, when under the threat of violence.”

The Mountain Moving Day then calls for "a conscious return to connection, to make a choice to connect with each other, to connect to our inherent power. We can reclaim the strength within us - through art, and the possibilities to reconnect to nature."

Linda claims to have found "the ultimate creative palette" in the Asheville area, where she has been a part of the performance world for 15 years. Performers who have known each other and enjoy working together have collaborated on the piece. Linda decided to do it in a grassroots way - not needing a $6 million budget or approval. "You have to be ready to do it yourself." Fundraising letters were sent out; a non-profit was created in the name of Crooked Thumb Theatre, from a poem Linda learned while visiting herbalist Susun Weed:

"I keep a goat to see him prance.
I carry a staff, I talk to my plants,
I stare in the fire and crook my thumb,
And whatever I see in the flames, I become."
(author unknown!)

Performances are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, October 25th and 26th at 8pm at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville, and Sunday, October 27th at 3pm at the Broyhill Chapel on the campus of Mars Hill College. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased in advance at Malaprop's.

Please know that many people will be empowered by the creation, production and performance of this work.