[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Content Block” _builder_version=”4.3.4″ background_image=”https:\/\/societyforritualarts.com\/coreopsis\/autumn-2020-issue\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/paper-texture.png” custom_margin=”0px||0px||true|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||true|false” saved_tabs=”all”][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_5,3_5″ _builder_version=”3.26.7″][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”3.26.6″][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/societyforritualarts.com\/coreopsis\/autumn-2020-issue\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/orange-sky-outside-windows.jpg” align=”right” _builder_version=”4.3.2″ custom_padding=”|||200px||”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”3.26.6″][et_pb_text module_id=”poetry” module_class=”noindent” _builder_version=”4.3.2″ custom_margin=”||||false|false” custom_padding=”||0px|||”]<\/p>\n
Smoke heavy and hiding treetops,
The distant sun a
small, pale glow.
Twilight all day,
without birdsong or laughter.
Coughing, though, we are coughing.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, birds rushing this way,
that way, this branch, that maple,
frantic,\u00a0unable
to settle, eat, bathe, preen, rest.<\/p>\n
The juncos in a flock
Without direction, over here, over there,
Intent on leaving, fleeing, turning
and turning and returning.<\/p>\n
This\u00a0darkly morning,
no\u00a0birds sighted for hours.
They\u00a0appear in the gloom\u00a0of noon.<\/p>\n
Through glass, watched a
lone junco plop down on the porch roof,
just plopped down.<\/p>\n
Stood a moment weakly,
down again, legs collapsed.
Another brief moment stood,
pecked thrice, fell down.<\/p>\n
Heart breaking. Over and over.<\/p>\n
In respirators, friends are picking plums and laying sod.<\/p>\n
A man searches for his family
in a landscape charred and smoldering.
A woman walks alone along a road,
shoes melted away by hot pavement,
feet burned, burning clothes discarded, lips black
with soot, hair singed dark and shorn by flames.
The man pressures the woman to get in his car,
Trying to help, desperate to find his son, his wife.
The burned woman says, \u201cI am your wife.\u201d<\/p>\n
My son wakes.
No \u201cgood morning, Mom\u201d. No hug.
He looks out the window,
the dirty yellow, gray grim sky,
the encircling mountains disappeared,
and recognizes with his statement,
\u201cThis fucking year.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the evening, he reads this poem.
He walks into the kitchen, \u201cMom.\u201d
Encircles me with his strong arms,
against his broad chest.
His heart radiating love.
We merge, embracing, over and over.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
September 14, 2020,\u00a09:57am<\/p>\n
Photograph credit: \u00a0 Lezlie Kenyon (2020), Orange Sky Outside Windows<\/i><\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.3.4″ background_image=”https:\/\/societyforritualarts.com\/coreopsis\/autumn-2020-issue\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/paper-texture.png” custom_padding=”0px|||||” saved_tabs=”all”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.27.3″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.26.7″][et_pb_divider color=”#37712d” divider_weight=”3px” _builder_version=”4.3.2″ width=”60%” module_alignment=”center” height=”5px”][\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_4,1_2,1_4″ _builder_version=”3.27.2″][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”3.27.2″][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.27.2″][et_pb_text module_class=”noindent” _builder_version=”4.3.2″]<\/p>\n
My formal education includes a PhD in humanistic and transpersonal psychology, a graduate certificate in the psychology of creativity, MA in marriage and family therapy, MFA and BFA painting, full scholarship to Pilchuck Glass School, plus training in dance (ballet, modern, jazz, ethnic) and vocals (jazz, blues). I\u2019ve received many award, scholarships, and grants, most recently to the Creativity and Madness Conference in Santa Fe, NM.<\/p>\n Previous publications include: The contemporary artist as shaman, ReVision: A Journal of Consciousness and Transformation; <\/i>A historical and critical overview of the artist as shaman and recent research, Shamanhood and its arts, <\/i>Budapest\/Warsaw; <\/i>Art audience as shamanic community: How art meets psychological, social, and spiritual needs, Modern artists and shamanism<\/i> (Vol. II of Encyclopedia of shamanism<\/i>), Beijing; An Overview of Western Ideas regarding the Artist as Shaman, Modern artists and shamanism<\/i> (Vol. II of Encyclopedia of shamanism<\/i>) Beijing.<\/p>\n These chapters and articles, as well as the foundational theoretical study on contemporary artists as shamans, are open access and available online at https:\/\/saybrook.academia.edu\/DenitaBenyshekPhDMFA<\/a><\/p>\n I\u2019m now working on a chapter entitled A personal consideration of contemporary artists as shamans: integrated, multi-disciplinary, for the anthology Trans-Disciplinary Migrations: Science, the Sacred, and the Arts, Cambridge Scholars Publishing.<\/p>\n My conference presentations integrate PowerPoint, animation, collage, voice, poetry, story, and research into healing works of art for the audience. I\u2019ve offered these prayers at the International Conference on Shamanism, Healing, and Transformation (2010, 2011, 2014, 2017, 2018), the American Psychological Association (2013), International Society of Shamanistic Research (2009 Anchorage, AK, 2011 Warsaw, Poland), and other venues.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/societyforritualarts.com\/coreopsis\/autumn-2020-issue\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Denita-Benyshek.jpeg\")
<\/a>As a healer, I work through several mediums. I am an artist, a telehealth mental health counselor, a coach for gifted and creative individuals, and an interdisciplinary researcher on contemporary artists as shamans. Korean mudang Kim Junghee initiated me as a shaman through a traditional naerim gut.<\/p>\n