Comments on: From the N.C. Arts Council http://ncarts.wordpress.com/2007/04/02/from-the-nc-arts-council/ A better state through the arts. Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:04:25 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: ncarts http://ncarts.wordpress.com/2007/04/02/from-the-nc-arts-council/#comment-2 ncarts Wed, 25 Apr 2007 17:24:45 +0000 http://ncarts.wordpress.com/2007/04/02/from-the-nc-arts-council/#comment-2 The following is a poem by Feather Phillips presented at the public meeting in Rocky Mount on April 24. (Reprinted with permission) GOOD BIRDS Like birds on a tether we keep the arts close to count and measure their effectiveness, good birds. I remember the day I saw them. All of the swans left on the same wind that year, vee after vee after vee after vee after vee, forming, reforming in response to the rhythm of the winds untethered revealing the invisible. I am here to ask the NC Arts Council to make accommodations for the uncountable, the immeasurable, the invisible, a realm in which the arts have always led civilizations. And to ask that you provide funding for programming on the basis of what is “in response to the rhythm of the winds” of the local communities. Feather Phillips, April 24, 2007 The following is a poem by Feather Phillips presented at the public meeting in Rocky Mount on April 24. (Reprinted with permission)

GOOD BIRDS

Like birds on a tether
we keep the arts close
to count and measure their effectiveness,
good birds.

I remember the day I saw them.
All of the swans left on the same wind that year,
vee after vee after vee
after vee after vee,
forming, reforming
in response to the rhythm of the winds
untethered
revealing the invisible.

I am here to ask the NC Arts Council to make accommodations for the uncountable, the immeasurable, the invisible, a realm in which the arts have always led civilizations. And to ask that you provide funding for programming on the basis of what is “in response to the rhythm of the winds” of the local communities.
Feather Phillips, April 24, 2007

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