Marie Harris

writer, poet, voice

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Singer/Songwriters

September 4, 2016 Leave a Comment

My brother, Basil, and I have collaborated over the years, mainly on songs written specially for the weddings of our siblings, children, nieces and nephews. This one has its roots in a legend.

Lying in the shadows, a legend waits for the afternoon sun. On a summer evening, out of Mt. Hosmer’s face, comes the Ghostrider – the shadow of a distinctive horse and rider, the ghost some say of an angry Indian Chief and his jilted daughter pursuing William Fernie.

As legend tells it, William Fernie was courting an Indian Princess to learn the source of her sacred black stone necklace. It is said that after learning the secret location of the Morrissey Coal Seams, Fernie stopped seeing the Princess and the tribe’s medicine woman placed a curse on the Elk Valley.

Residents of Fernie feared the curse was real after several tragedies struck the town. Fire reduced the town to smoldering rubble in 1904 and again in 1908. In 1916, the Elk River flooded and in 1917 there was a mining disaster. A public ceremony in 1964 officially lifted the curse. Members of the Kootenay Tribes assembled in Fernie and Chief Red Eagle (Ambrose Gravelle) and Fernie Mayor James White smoked a pipe of peace.

Although the curse was lifted over 35 years ago, on summer evenings, the ghost of an angry Indian chief and his jilted daughter still rides above Fernie and their legend lives on in the shadows of the mountain.

from Ghost Rider

Kirsten Majic grew up in Fernie. Mt Hosmer and its Ghost Rider are framed in her living room window. When Basil and I were asked to compose a song in celebration of her marriage to David Fear, I took the legend as a motif for the lyrics.

http://marieharris.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/09-Track-09.m4a

Filed Under: Family histories, Music, Poetry, Projects & Performances, Words in Progress Tagged With: family histories, love poetry, marriage, poetry

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Words in progress

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A Poet for Your Bookshelf, Classroom, or Library

Welcome! Come on in and browse through my books of poetry, anthologies I’ve edited and in which my poems appear, and some essays and articles on subjects ranging from blue water sailing to New England farm stays to birding. You can also find photos of my collaborations with painters, sculptors, photographers and musicians. Listen to audio clips of a sampling of my voiceover work.

As a poet, I perform and teach at colleges & universities throughout the country, and in residencies in elementary and high schools, libraries, writers’ workshops and retreats, and senior centers. Read More…

Words in Progress

Walking Song

WALKING SONG …reminding herself that she was only an elderly woman who had got up too early in the morning and journeyed too far, that the despair creeping over her was merely her despair, her personal weakness, and that even if she got a sunstroke and went mad the rest of the world would go […]

My Brother is Gone from Us

Basil Harris (pictured with sister Anne, summer 2016) He died today. Farewell, sweet singer.

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