Origins and Meanings: Primitive and Archaic Poetry

Poets Jerome Rothenberg, David Antin, Jackson MacLow, and Rochelle Owens come together to recite translations of “primitive” and archaic stories of creation, nature, death, and mourning. Sources of the poems include indigenous groups such as the Gabon Pygmies, the Maori, a number of Native American peoples, classical Indian texts, and various Australian and African peoples. This collection of poems was performed at the Hardware Poets Playhouse and the Metro Coffeehouse in New York City in 1964. Liner notes contain the poem texts and biographical information about the poets.

Track Listing

101	Creation Accounts - Uitoto Indian Myth / From the Book of Enoch / A Maori Poem on the Creation of Light / From the Chhandoga Upanishad	n/a	05:25
102	Definitions - Poem for the Sun (Eskimo) / Series of Aztec Definitions	n/a	06:05
103	Descriptions (Eskimo) / Descriptions (Australian) / Descriptions (Gabon Pygmy)	n/a	02:08
104	Elephant Hunter Take Your Bow (Gabon Pygmy)	n/a	01:53
105	The War God's Horse Song (Navajo)	n/a	01:12
106	He Is Firm and Strong (Yoruba, Nigeria)	n/a	00:33
107	To the God of Fire as a Horse (Rigveda)	n/a	00:57
108	The Stars (Algonquin Indian)	n/a	00:41
201	The Flight of the Quetzalcoatl (Aztec)	n/a	06:11
202	When Hare Heard of Death (Winnebago)	n/a	01:01
203	Poem from the Middle Kingdom (Egypt)	n/a	01:49
204	Ayacucho Dance Song (Peru)	n/a	00:27
205	She Has Gone from Us / The Blowfly (Australia)	n/a	02:06
206	Lamentation (Fox Indian)	n/a	00:32
207	Death Song (Papago)	n/a	00:15
208	Three Songs (Chippewa)	n/a	00:26
209	For Tlacahuepan (Aztec)	n/a	00:34
210	Song of the Butterfly (Chippewa)	n/a	00:12
211	Some Attributes of the Book of Changes	n/a	03:35
212	Lament (Gabon Pygmy)	n/a	00:51