The Two Boots Word Vault

On May 8, 2008 I was invited to speak to the United Christ Community in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.  With the musical accompaniment of Yata Peinovich and Dalyce Elliott, I addressed the community about a special love for the divine feminine.  The original recording, provided by the community had been overloaded with volume and inaudible. Thankfully, Greg Schuette of Bathtub Studios in Minneapolis was a...

On May 15, 2026 Dalyce Elliott Young and I performed music and poetry from our 2011 CD Perfect Harmony.  This episode is the recording of two of the evening's pieces, Ibn Hazm's Overhanging Boughs, and Ibn El-Arabi's Perfect Harmony. Brothers Jesse and Ryan Dermody provided percussion for these two pieces.

On May 15, 2026 The Brothers Burn Mountain, Jesse and Ryan Dermody, joined my wife Dalyce and I for a music and poetry presentation at the American School of Storytelling in Minneapolis.   Jesse played percussion and Ryan played guitar. Dalyce provide her uniquely beautiful violin improvisations. on Alone With Her.

On April 26, 2026 Dougie Padilla, Thomas R. Smith and I read poems for a Como Cottage Poetry Scrum.  This is the third round of this non-competitive scrum. We had a great time, and heard each other read great poems, too.

After five years working in Frogtown, and helping establish the Frogtown Community Association, I had to find other projects to work on. The United Way cut the FCA's share of funding for this impoverished neighborhood. Other funders followed the United Way's lead. Frogtown was the poorest and most heterogenous community in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Hundreds of neighbors had volu...

On April 26, 2026 Dougie Padilla, Thomas R. Smith and myself were featured for a Como Cottage Poetry Scrum.  This is the second round of this non-competitive scrum. We had a great time, ribbing one another, too.

This essay was published in the first online issue of the magazine, Inroads, Creativity, Men, Soul on April 1, 2026.  The original Inroads Magazine existed in the late 80s and the early 90s and was published by Anthony Signorelli with contributing editors Jonathan Stensland, John Lang and Thomas R. Smith.  These magazines featured essays by James Hillman and poetry by Robert Bly and other men affi...

On April 26, 2026 Dougie Padilla, Thomas R. Smith and myself were featured for a Como Cottage Poetry Scrum.  This is the first round for this non-competitive scrum. We had a great time, a phun time, as Dougie says.

On April 11, 2026 I presented a version of my take on Robert Bly's "The Vocation of Poetry and its Ten Labors" to the Australian group, The Fifth Direction. I gave examples of how poets respond to the ten labors, and a few opinions on why poets are so important to our cultural communities.  Walton Stanley, storyteller and co-presenter, gave a lead-in passage from Shakespeare's...

On March 26, 2026 Jesse Dermody, Scott Vetsch, and Timothy Young read poetry n their scrum format.  It was Timothy's first time in 40 years reading in Duluth, Minnesota. This time at Wussow's Concert Cafe. It was a pleasure to be back in the port city.

A Como Cottage Poetry Scrum featuring Michael Moos, Donna Isaac, Maureen Skelly, Timothy Young.

Maureen Skelly joined poets Donna Isaac, MIchael Moos, and Timothy Young for a Como Cottage Salon Poetry Scrum on February 22, 2026.

Donna Isaac joined poets Michael Moos, Maureen Skelly and me for the February 22, 2026 Como Cottage Salon Poetry Scrum.

Michael Moos joined Donna Isaac, Maureen Skelly and Timothy Young at the Como Cottage on February 22, 2026 for another Salon Poetry Scrum.

On February 22, 2026 a Como Cottage Salon Poetry Salon featured poets Michael Moos, Donna Isaac, Maureen Skelly, and Timothy Young with a musical introduction by violinist Dalyce Elliott Young.  This podcast is part one of five recordings from that Poetry Scrum.

At the 2026 Minnesota Men's Winter Conference, Standing in Awe of the Thundering Ice, I gave a short explanation on why I believe that poets and poetry are a moral force. Then I read a Jimmy Santiago Baca poem as my example.  And I honored my teacher, Robert Bly as another example by calling out his name.

This episode is a live recording of the third movement of Dan Cavanagh's Mississippi Ecstasy.   Dan, a 2001 graduate of St. Olaf's College,  conducted all three movements with the St. Olaf Jazz Orchestra on May 3, 2013.  He had used my poem as a prompt for his composition.  We recorded the three movements for his first CD, Pulse, for OA2 Records in 2008.  The poem was published in my 201...

The is a special episode to begin season 3 of The Two Boots Word Vault Podcast. It is a recording of a reading I did on May 9,1990 with my friend and publisher, Jim Dochniak. Jim published my first broadside Men Don't Dance in America in 1983. I didn't know him at the time. Meridel LeSueur had herd me read the poem at an open reading at the Greater Midwestern Book Show and commanded Jim...

Bryce Black, Yata Peinovich, and Timothy Young with Bruce Hecksel lead guitar, piano, and percussion, Julie Hecksel background vocals, and Dalyce Elliott violin. Recorded by Dallas Egger. Set list for this podcast: Mississippi River Chant, Grey Goose, What I Need, This Fire I Am, My Black Guitar, My Heart is Your Home, River Song, and Peace, Salaam, Shalom.

On November 9, 2025 Como Cottage Salons hosted poets Thomas R. Smith, Scott Vetsch, Jesse Dermody and Timothy Young for a poetry scrum. Cris Anderson recorded the event and this podcast is the second half of the day. Thanks, Cris.

From our 2011 CD Perfect Harmony, three poems with musical accompaniment, one by Hafiz, two by Ibn Hazm

Thomas R. Smith has been a poetry friend of mine since 1981. We've been reading together ever since. He joined Jesse Dermody, Scott Vetsch, and me for a Como Cottage Salon Poetry Scrum on November 9, 2025.

On November 9, 2025 The Como Cottage Salon Series hosted a poetry scrum with Jesse Dermody, Scott Vetsch, Thomas R. Smith and Timothy Young. Before the scrum, each read the poems of their choice for about 10 minutes. Here is Jesse's contribution.