The 12 Alchemists & Other Poems

Maria Bacardi’s company, OddFellows Playhouse, commissioned me to write the following pages of poetry for the 2007 LongHouse Gala in honor of Yoko Ono. The gala celebrated the founder, Jack Lenor Larsen’s, 80th year and LongHouse Reserve’s 15th anniversary. Yoko Ono was presented a medal for her efforts at promoting peace. The poems were written over a two week period on retreat at the Surf Hotel in Block Island, RI. The end result was three separate works of poetry, represented here: “The 12 Alchemists,” “Four Narratives,” and “Your Wait in Gold.” At Oddfellows’ request, these poems were written to be performed by both children and adults, and so, accordingly, my attempt was to have the poems appeal to both. I later learned that each of “The 12 Alchemists” were to be represented by an orator reciting the poems and a dancer interpreting the words. These performers were to be placed in strategic locations around the LongHouse grounds to entertain guests. “Your Wait in Gold” would then be orated and performed by the same dancers on Ono’s life-size white chessboard sculpture, “Play it by Trust,” also located on the LongHouse Reserve’s grounds. Due to time constraints, only “Your Wait in Gold” was performed. The theme for each poem was “alchemy” and loosely inspired by the traditional Japanese “Tanka” form.

Maria Bacardi’s company, OddFellows Playhouse, commissioned me to write the following pages of poetry for the 2007 LongHouse Gala in honor of Yoko Ono. The gala celebrated the founder, Jack Lenor Larsen’s, 80th year and LongHouse Reserve’s 15th anniversary. Yoko Ono was presented a medal for her efforts at promoting peace. The poems were written over a two week period on retreat at the Surf Hotel in Block Island, RI. The end result was three separate works of poetry, represented here: “The 12 Alchemists,” “Four Narratives,” and “Your Wait in Gold.” At Oddfellows’ request, these poems were written to be performed by both children and adults, and so, accordingly, my attempt was to have the poems appeal to both. I later learned that each of “The 12 Alchemists” were to be represented by an orator reciting the poems and a dancer interpreting the words. These performers were to be placed in strategic locations around the LongHouse grounds to entertain guests. “Your Wait in Gold” would then be orated and performed by the same dancers on Ono’s life-size white chessboard sculpture, “Play it by Trust,” also located on the LongHouse Reserve’s grounds. Due to time constraints, only “Your Wait in Gold” was performed. The theme for each poem was “alchemy” and loosely inspired by the traditional Japanese “Tanka” form.

Kevin McWha Steele is a poet, songwriter, lyricist, and producer. After studying poetry and music in Paris and La Rochelle, France, he relocated to New York City in 1999. At this time, he continued his studies in poetry at City College and as a fellow at Bard College (MFA candidate). Since this time, he has been writing poems and songs in many different styles/formats in both French and English. His professional music credits range from session vocalist for Virgin U.K. to performing/recording with a variety of musicians, performance artists and songwriters in both New York and Los Angeles, including with performance artist, Rachel Rosenthal, and at the Robert Wilson's Watermill Center with his brother, the director/actor Kameron Steele. To date, he has released five studio albums (3 LPs, 2 EPs) and a collection of poems and song lyrics entitled, "Medawin." He is currently at work on his sixth studio release, "The Nightly Howl!" His poems have appeared in APR, Lungfull!, New Millenium Writings, Glimmer Train and Fence Magazine.