Totem

“Totem Walk” by Emily Carr

ancestral angels

administer secretly

animist sacraments

pointing out paths

of safe passage

through ritual

hewn iconography

boldly inscribes

old growth timber

staid canvas to render

stark creatures of

natural affinity

open-eyed spirit-guides

give of their tutelage

mystical descants

morality tales convey

wisdom that whispers

with linear memory

granting permission

for transit of time

across thresholds

of forest and future

permission who

cries to keep faith

with tradition

indigenous values

ennobling descendants

of kith kin and clan

tribal citizens worthy

of mother earth’s gifts

and possessed with the

mettle of warrior kings

“Gitwinkool Totem Poles” by Emily Carr