Aniwayah
amber eyes, like fire
warm me with
intelligence.
Aniwayah
a song in the night
to sisters and brothers
not a romantic song
of freedom or such notions
but rather a song of
being.
He Wo Ni Tsa La Gi
I am from a long line of free spirits
of Oo go yo s ti
and of Moses Black Fox
of Qua tsi te li co
and Woman of Wolf Clan.
I am of Sallly Rogers
who taught my dad to track
and of Granny Mag
whose medicine healed his head wound.
I am of Wi hi ma
who refused to forget
he was “Indian”
even when his uncles
punished him for fear
–of discovery.
He remembered and
his mother remembered
and her father remembered, until
there was no longer a need to fear
Oklahoma. We stayed in Kentucky
in the hills and the hollers
in the nooks and crannies, taking on
White names until it was safe to be
Indian again.
I am she who walks with light,
a whispering wind
who touches the Earth
I am child of these rivers
daughter of these hills.
