In the last great meeting
medicine chiefs rode down from the mountains,
bears crossed the wide rivers,
eagles left the coastline, beavers their dams,
trees pulled up roots, birds took wing,
whales swam up river
and salmon walked the shore.
From the furthest horizon
Incas, Aztecs, ageless Lamas,
Sisters of the Silent Veil
and the Order of the Golden Ball
gathered with the ants and honey bees
and animals of every description.
When the ocean spoke
her words inscribed a spread of clouds
before dissolving in the light
of a never seen star.
Then a groan from the earth
closed the ancient book
with the last gasp of compassion
and the land opened in blood and ecstasy
as a new babe wailed with a cry of delight.

We live within a circle of two,
not straying beyond our home
for a night and a day and another night,
the intimacy of life enough to feed us,
the food of our winter camp
what we’ve gathered
from the clearing of our hearts.
Holding to each other
beneath the arc of sun and stars
in the rooted soil where we are joined,
we burn back the pressing dark
with the fire we’ve tended,
alone together beside the great river,
quiet as the trees.

Encaustic Art – Eilish Hynes

Most of the animals are gone,
fled back into the brush thick forest
under the green cloth of nature’s cloak,
out of sight to those who want to be
the only actors on the stage.
We forget the power creatures provide,
neglect to honor the wild face
of the ancient gods alive within their form.
Let my fur grow thick and lengthen
to swim the frigid waters of discontent,
claws sharpened on the round stone of obstacles
to pierce the hide of friend and foe.
Let me look across the ebbing tide
and see beneath the flood,
my eyes closed in darkness,
curling tail and whiskers sensing
the hidden paths that take me home.

I am Crow

I learned bad words about your body
before I knew what a body was
in language harsh as cutting meat,
broken like sidewalks, separate as the river
across barbed wire and maze of railroad tracks,
separate from you with only the yearning,
the blind desire I’d turn into fight,
driving my fists into another body,
wanting to know your body,
any body, especially my own.
You were angry that I loved your body
like your mind was so adorable
or the mean way you’d speak,
but I did love your body,
love it still when I cut back
and feel you flowing
down from the mountains
wildly pouring yourself
wet to the sea.