"The Story Of Me Before I Was"
is written in echo to native oral tradition, framing the poem. Manitoi is
the Shawnee "Thunderbeing" a creature that is a giant snake with wings and
linked as a manifestaion of The Creator.
Story Of Me Before I Was
I have been plucked from a world
Of wind and cloud ---
Where my grandmothers’ spoke
Smoke pictographs and drank
Boneset and stardust tea.
Roar of thunder, the beating of
Manitoi’s wings,
Conversations rolling, knocking about the
Dome walls if silver inlaid
Turquoise skies.
Crows, whose wings have been
Devoured, consumed by the
Weight if women’s dreams---
Lye sessile in the sky,
Creating night, where upon
My grandmother stirs her kettle
And weaves her net of
Eternal salvation.
Her children blinking back tears,
Flickering fragile fireflies dancing
Over feathered breast.
The night is the star quilt whereupon
We birthed our Children,
Breathing sweet grass smoke
And crying for rain.
Laying new borne babes in
Cradleboard clouds,
Strapped to our backs…
Following grandmother across
Suspended water ceilings.
I have been plucked from a world
Of wind and cloud ---
Where my grandmothers’ spoke
Smoke pictographs and drank
Boneset and stardust tea.
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