Who is Sylvia? What am I?
Why do bagpipes make me cry?
Embarrassed tears drawn forth to air,
As soon as wailing begins to blare.
Ancestors from Scotland chose Tennessee as home,
Hills rolling green, streams, and crunchy forest loam.
My Grandpa Burness eight generations removed in time
Was also grandpa to Robert Burns, renown man of rhyme.
Writing poetry is merely rhythm and rhyme:
Record a thought from your mind each time;
Every sentence follows with all accents the same,
Big words in the middle, rhyming end words is your aim.
Only a few basic words in our language jive,
Tack them on the end: For this you must strive,
Like music in mathematical phrases
Are poetry's words in measured mazes.
Write it out as you see fit,
Then walk away and let it sit.
Read it over a time or two,
Edit and cut 'til it pleases you.
For some reason, it's easier to remember
If things rhyme - like Christmas songs of December.
The human mind can be tricked through singing
A myriad of words from memory to be bringing.
Playing with words, writing poetry is fun,
Creating new meanings by the time you're done.
Anyone could say the same 'ole dull thing,
But rhyming stays with you with a brand new ring.
* * * * * * * * *
Sylvia's auto-biography
CHEROKEE Lost and Found
is in the works.
Six decades in the making - to find her Soul Mate.
Please, keep checking.
WAMINEGA
"Walks on the Snow"
Calvin Chaska Denny's life is remarkable
as a Twentieth Century American Indian,
born and raised on the Winnebago Indian Reservation
in Nebraska.
As you read his life story,
you will get to know him through his own words.
Chaska is a gifted author -
untrained by the professionals,
but gifted by the Great Spirit as a Story-Teller.
And his own life is the most amazing story of all.
As a visionary, Chaska is able to "go into" the past
and write of what he sees and feels,
as if it were the present moment.
When he was but a child, Chaska's grandfather realized
that he was gifted by the Great Spirit.
Chaska was raised by his maternal grandparents
of the Ho-Chunk Winnebago Tribe.
He was mentored by traditional elders of his father, Calvin J. Denny's Dakota / Lakota Nation including Grandpa Frank Fools Crow,
Traditional Chief and Holy man.
In WAMINEGA, Chaska's Winnebago name
meaning "Grizzly Bear Walks on the Snow,"
you will be drawn into
Chaska's amazing spiritual and earthly experiences.
In his first fifty years, Chaska has seen, felt
and known ALL of the Agony and Ecstasy
which the American Indian has tasted since 1492.
Chaska's first book is an overview of his personal life
as he seeks to walk in The Spiritual Path
of the Sacred Red Power of the Dakota / Lakota Nation
and his 40-year-search for The One of his VISION,
seen in his first Vision Quest at age 13.
Chaska's book WAMINEGA is self-published, spiral-bound,
in order to insure that his words are those
that you read, not edited words of a publishing company.
WAMINEGA is a spiral-bound, 240-page, in-depth,
fully-detailed book of the Sacred Red Power
with seven full-color photo pages
and 57 colored illustrations.
Each book is numbered and signed by the author,
Calvin Chaska, with an e-mail address
for question-and-answer: waminega@yahoo.com.
Please, make check or money order for $40
(mailing by bookrate US Postal Service included)
to Chaska at P.O. Box 70733, Knoxville, Tennessee 37938.
Username and passwords zip through my brain, So fast, even the computer current they drain, And printer electricity is given a strain, A race against time to keep the thought-chain.
Inspiration comes nearly lightning-fast, Slowing down to proof-read the previous past Is a boring drudgery, although valid, too vast, So mistakes may remain within this cast.
I've done this work all by myself, The only help are books from my shelf. The only eyes who've seen it are mine, Whether it's worthless, or pure and fine.
If I'd had someone to edit this work, I could clearly say, no errors herein lurk. Unfortunately, that is not the case, So all mistakes, I have to face.
Chaska is a noted Speaker / Teacher of Traditional Plains Indian Spirituality having been mentored by Seven Strong Medicine Men and having made 13 Vision Quests in his nearly 60 years to find his own Path and Destiny.
If you would like to communicate with Chaska for a speaking engagement or teaching series, please call our cell at 816-820-0012
TIES - "Prayer Ties" made by Traditional Spiritual People of the Plains requesting from Creator the basics of life for Health & Happiness: Those basics are hard-to-come-by for many Traditional Spiritual Indian Families. Since November 2003, Chaska & Sylvia have operated TIES - a Grassroots Program to help alleviate some of the unbearable hardships that the Traditional Plains Indian People, whom Chaska personally knows, endure trying to survive in the sparse and/or desolate areas, in or around the reservations. TIES sends postal money orders directly to the utility companies to buy propane so the families won't freeze during the winter and can cook their food. If the head of the household is a Spiritual Leader or Medicine Man, TIES may send money directly to that person to help with the personal needs of the family for Health, Habitation, Travel and Ceremonies. TIES has no administrative costs. Chaska and Sylvia absorb those costs. All of your TIES dollars goes directly to help Indian families stay alive - especially through the harsh "Killing Winters." TIES chose not to be a 501C3 Charitable Organization so that no government strings are attached. But every cent of your money goes directly to preserve Traditional Spirituality by supporting the Dakota / Plains Indian People to pass The Sacred Ways on to the next generation. We can provide copies of all the money orders that have been sent to the propane companies or reliable heads of families. Some TIES members have chosen to voluntarily contribute $20 a month (made out to Walking Wind, PO Box 70733, Knoxville, TN 37938) which allows us to regularly support families who inform us of their desperate needs. TIES does not send out monthly notices, but we do send newsletters via e-mail letting you know how your dollars helped specific medicine men. Without your financial contribution, many Traditional Spiritual families must go without basic needs you and I consider normal. Thank you for your financial Gifts of Love.
FOR INDIAN EYES ONLY
Currently being written by Chaska:
True Stories of Spiritual Encounters,
Prophecies for This Nation,
Political Prejudice and Imprisonment
of Native Americans for their Faith.
(pictured: Chaska at St. Petersburg Science Fair Festival)
In 2005 we journeyed back to Chaska's hometown on the Winnebago Reservation for the huge Pow Wow. This is no "make-shift," "New Age," "Hobby Pow Wow." This is the REAL Thing!
WINNEBAGO's 139th ANNUAL POW WOW - Summer of 2005 Oldest Continually-Held Annual American Indian Pow Wow in North America
If you would like a VHS video I made of this event, with the most exquisite regalia anywhere worn by male and female of all age groups, with AWESOME Drumming and Singing by "Mountain Soul" and interviews by key male elders of the area (who will each receive portions of the proceeds), please, send your check or postal money order for $20 (mailing USPS media-rate to you included) to Walking Wind, PO Box 70733, Knoxville, TN 37938.
(photo taken day of Sylvia's father's funeral)
Everyone on Earth is created by Our Maker
with a Soul Mate, your opposite.
It may take many lifetimes to find your Soul Mate,
but this must be your Heart's Desire to make it happen.
You will find your Soul Mate through your dreams.
This is the way we found each other a continent apart:
Chaska saw Sylvia in his dreams as a child
and made his first vision quest at age 13
to find out who she was.
Sylvia finally was guided to find him
by a dream at age 54 when she really began
praying "hard" to make it happen.
Two years later, they met by correspondence
and a year later met in person, in this lifetime.
Then they remembered having met at Fort Sill, Oklahoma,
at the burial site of Geronimo's grave
when Sylvia was 22 and Chaska was 18.
You cannot outrun your own Destiny,
but you can miss a lot by not being mature or ready.
