Donald Traxler's Poetry

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Photo: This Body

[Excerpted from the poem "This Body," published in this blog on 2 February 2021.]

Monday, February 8, 2021

There Is Nothing to Say

There is nothing to say

about a naked person;

they are in their natural

state.

Photo: gesvase uwasa adelohosgo / ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᎤᏩᏌ ᎠᏕᎶᎰᏍᎪ.

gesvase uwasa adelohosgo

ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᎤᏩᏌ ᎠᏕᎶᎰᏍᎪ.

Saturday, February 6, 2021

Thoughts on the Udugi Language

It is said that "you don't speak Cherokee unless you speak it from the cradle." It seems to be true. I can speak half a dozen languages, but Cherokee is not one of them. I've studied many languages, and Cherokee is the most complex. It is now believed that there are not more than two thousand people who can speak Cherokee fluently. In one or two generations, there will be none. Since I care about the language, this struck me as very sad. I came to the conclusion that it would be better to save what can be saved (the vocabulary), rather than see it all disappear. So, in 2017 and 2018 I created the Udugi language.

Udugi is a constructed language that is based on Cherokee vocabulary and a subset of Esperanto grammar. I chose Esperanto, not only because I speak it, but also because it is very logical, and the grammar has only sixteen rules, with no exceptions. It is also extremely expressive, one of the most expressive languages I know.

The project was even more successful than I had anticipated. I soon had a language that could preserve all of Cherokee's vocabulary, but was relatively simple and easy to learn. I could also express things in it that I would not be able to express in Cherokee.

Since the vocabulary is Cherokee, I was also able to preserve the use of the Cherokee syllabary, invented by Sequoia. But if one prefers, one can write it in the Roman alphabet.

I published (in this blog) an Udugi dictionary, with a simple grammar, on May 26, 2020. I am no longer developing the language, so I will not be adding anything further to the dictionary, but others can, if they wish.

The reason I am writing this at this time is because the other day I published something in Udugi, and realized that one of the words I used was not in the dictionary. That word was "yeliquetsodine," which means "possibilities." Cherokee, like other North American indigenous languages, is not strong on abstractions, but they can be constructed, just as they can in Esperanto. If we search the dictionary, the nearest thing we can find is "yeliquu," which means "possible." But if we take the word apart, we can determine it's meaning. The root is "yeliqu," which has do do with "being able," or "possible." The "-etso" means it's an abstract noun, the "-di" means it's plural, and the final "-ne" means it's accusative (object) case. The whole phrase I published, "atsvyai gowatase itse yeliquetsodine." means "He sees new possibilities." The "-ase" at the end of the verb makes it present tense. Simple, no?

This morning I wanted to test Udugi's ability to express abstractions. I came up with this phrase: "The autonomic nervous system is a law unto itself." I translated it into Udugi as "vsa-gotlvhisdodi odanadv-iyadvnelidasdi gesvase saquu dikahnawadvsdi nasgvsa didla." In the Cherokee syllabary this would be:

ᎥᏌ-ᎪᏢᎯᏍᏙᏗ ᎣᏓᎾᏛ-ᎢᏯᏛᏁᎵᏓᏍᏗ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᏌᏊ ᏗᎧᎿᏩᏛᏍᏗ ᎾᏍᎬᏌ ᏗᏜ.

Here is another phrase that I published the other day:

vlenidohv gesvase galvquodi. In the syllabary: ᎥᎴᏂᏙᎲ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᎦᎸᏉᏗ. See if you can figure it out, using the dictionary.

Friday, February 5, 2021

Photo: atsvyai gowatase itse yeliquetsodine

ᎠᏨᏯᎢ ᎪᏩᏔᏎ ᎢᏤ ᏰᎵᏇᏦᏗᏁ.

Thursday, February 4, 2021

106,000 Visits and One Ambivalent Medium

Today we are crossing the threshold of 106,000 visits to this blog. It took eight days to add a thousand visits (page-views), a rapid pace that is due mostly to pirate activity.

Photography is becoming a more and more important part of my creative work, and it is now a very integral part of my poetry.

I'm continuing to read the Zohar, in order to progress in my series Notes on the Zohar. It will necessarily be slow going, since just the commentary on Parshah Bereshith is 130 pages. I may be going at a snail's pace, but I'm enjoying it, and would not want to rush it.

I have many interests, not all of which get much mention in this blog. I am currently trying to further develop my abilities as a psychic medium. My belief is that we don't die, although our bodies do. Over the years I have received psychic communications from departed parents, aunts and uncles, former girlfriends, and other friends. All of those people died natural deaths, except for one car accident. Usually, these communications come as a surprise, often with identifying details that are quite amazing. I don't seek out publicly known figures, being more interested in interactions with people I have known personally.

Lately I have just tried to make myself as open as possible, especially around 3:55 a.m., which seems to be the most propitious time. On a couple of occasions recently I have received brief communications from people outside my own circle. The first one was guru Neem Karoli Baba (or Neeb Karori Baba). At first I didn't remember who he was, but it seemed to me that he had a good reputation. Look him up, if you are so inclined--that's what I had to do. He only gave me his name (in the "Neem" form), and then told me to "write." I'm terrible at automatic writing, so it wasn't very successful.

Last night at the "special" time, I received something totally unexpected: scenes of the "Battle of the Capitol" and the attempt to defend the Capitol. I assumed that these scenes were coming from Capitol Police Officer Brian Sitnik, who was murdered while he was defending the Capitol, but I have no proof of that. What I do know is that murder victims often have a much greater need to communicate than others, Whoever it was, I can tell you that that person is stuck in that battle and obsessed with the Capitol's defense, and his soul has not yet found peace.

That's the kind of communication I would prefer not to get, because it is upsetting. It's also part of the reason for my ambivalence toward the whole mediumistic process. I need to put up some filters, but I haven't accomplished that yet.

As to the rest, I am still without clothes, because I have found it to be important to me both psychically and physically. I will therefore end this little report with a photo as you would find me these days. Thank you all for your continued interest and enthusiasm.

vlenidohv gesvase galvquodi

ᎥᎴᏂᏙᎲ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᎦᎸᏉᏗ

--ꮨᏺꭽꮅ