Aways carrying the soul of Lew Welch in his back pocket, Thunderbear, a.k.a., Art Goodtimes, is a poet of quiet truths and epic hopes, a dream-spinner whose heart is made of Earth, fire, stone, water. He grew up in the embrace of San Francisco and has walked many paths. This artist, author, poet-performer, bioregionalist paleohippie, Green county commissioner, husband, father, fungiphile, and basket weaver is hooked on heirloom spuds and southwest wind. He is the creator of Talking Gourds, a traveling tribal poetry feast, and runs the Telluride Mushroom Festival as poet-in-residence.

His Kiva name is Umukihonaw (Hopi: Thunderbear). He is thunder and laughter, Thunderbear of the Holy Belly, dancing with the fire on the edge of night. His poetry brings Lew Welch back to life beneath the stars: “It's pure joy to read the truthsayers, the poets, the masters of prayer, the crazed, wise, babblers who show us things we never see... Step out onto the planet, draw a circle a hundred feet around: inside the circle are a thousand things nobody understands and maybe nobody’s ever seen. How many can you find?”

How many can we find? How many joys do we miss when we go too fast. How many songs do we leave silent because we don't pick up the guitar or sit at the piano. How much creative energy do we let slip through our minds, our fingers, our hearts without giving it life, because the world is bent over and groaning. “How many can you find” is a reminder, and it hasn't been there to remind Mossy Coyote for some years, but praise and delight, comes the Thunderbear to remind us that we were once reminded! He brings hope. Or something more. He makes us shake off the straps and confines of the meanness of broken night. His laughter roars thunder out of the darkness and makes the spirit rise. The spirit wakes us, shakes us, makes us back into what we once were when we told stories by the fire, when we traced dreams on the kiva wall, when we had Thunderbears to remind us that we were once reminded.

Come, sit by his fire; discover his thunder!

Mossy Coyote
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Kedmôgidaômwawôgan,
Wawidahômwawôgan,
Kwsilawakamigzowôgan
Compassion, Understanding, Respect

REINHABITATION	CONSCIOUSNESSLESS	BREATHING KANSAS
THE DAKINIS ARE CALLING	SEEING BEAR	MORE TO COME
LEARNING TO SMILE	LOGGHE'S 60TH	MORE TO COME

DESIRE	STORMY WEATHER	MORE TO COME
BURROWING IN	HANAKAPIAI FALLS	MORE TO COME
CINDERELLA	ALPHA RAY	MORE TO COME
GIVE & TAKE	SKINNING THE ELK	MORE TO COME

ANANDO A FLORESTA	HEAD ON	MORE TO COME
BELIEVE EDWARD TELLER	MORE TO COME	MORE TO COME
PRAYER FOR A GREAT SHROOM	MORE TO COME	MORE TO COME