Mapling

“Three Bucket Maple” by Bruce Sherman

 

sapwood straddles

the freeze line

sun-made sugar

drawn into liquor

of lifeblood

that quickens the

root and the branch

obverse natures of

xylem and phloem

in rise and descent

overlapping that

uncertain seam

between seasons

life coursing

enriching tall

tissues and cells

with new nectar

near sweet come

in yield to the tap

rustic business

this harvest of

delicate gifts

learned from

reverent hands of

indigenous centuries

Tears of Glass

 

“Tears” by Niki Katiki 

 

 

were I chief
you would know me
as Broken Wing
sad from the anger
of brave crippled souls
of a sudden
black moment
denied of their
custom and means
to fly free
over thousand-year
landscapes brought forth
from the womb
of the sky when
proud eagles were young
swart warriors strong
when the horse
and the buffalo
chased the fleet winds
across limitless ground
when my sacred
glass tears
were reserved
for my fathers
instead
of my sons

 

 

From my book Pieces of Wine

Anasazi Vision

“Anasazi Ruins 3” by Sally Bills Bailey

cochineal and indigo

infused warp and weft

bursts of uncursed colors

in mystic geometry

supple tapestries

pendent on portals

cut high into sheer rock

whose outcrops supported

adobe pueblos

where surefooted

earthen skinned

cave-dwellers

climbed to make

contact and compact

to reshape society

join disparate tribes

in confederate worship

of southwestern sun

 

 

thriving peaceably

during dependable eons

of arable seasons

their ambient range

expanded by systemic

engineered roads

over hundreds of miles

connecting their sacred

mesas and canyons

this unlikely ideal

example of civilized

culture stood proud

till that sharp argent dawn

when one woman awoke

stunned to find all across

her familiar wide vista

that she was

completely alone

 

 

(originally posted April 2013)

El Dorado

Unknown Artist’s Conception of El Dorado from pinterest.com

glistening dream
gleaming legend
enveloped by
updrafts of steam
the pained sighs
from a bloodletting
slaughter of jungles

a dream who climbs
warpaths and rituals
into to the mists
of mute mountains
in search of a
shimmering
city of gold

fabled fountainhead
told of in torture
at swordpoint
a keen inquisition
in rapture of vast
inexhaustible wealth
metaphorical grail

the recalcitrant
riddle of gilded
intractable priests
its one stubbornly
undisclosed secret
persistent of
incomplete conquest

there had to be more
there just
had to be more
tenía que haber más
the lamenting refrain
carried northward
and southward

across tribal
deserts of stone
for a distance
of five hundred years
while in cloudbanks
that cling
above treelines

to unmapped
untrodden
invisible peaks
sprawls a city
so golden
it shines like
the heart of the sun

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

 

Latin America

 

“Spanish Village” by Rhodes Rumsey

 

terracotta skies

a warm roofing for

modern humilities

privately plagued

by repentance of

uneasy histories

conquests of empire

throne upon throne

cut through seas

to indigenous suns

of new continents

heritage residues

language religion

eclipsed ancient

cultures with layers

six centuries deep

stealing ritual magic

from fortified temples

converting the pagan

subduing the savage

released from the

rapture of jungles

consigning to mystery

secrets of seeming

improbable intellect

complex mathematics

prophetic astronomy

fine architectural

methods of monument

oh so much gained

against oh so much lost

an accounting elusive

of ultimate cost

there’s no science of

what might have been

Counting Coup

“Counting Coup” by Donald F Montileaux

 

(Originally posted June 2013)

 
 

time was
I strode into battle
on strong stallion legs
wielding armament
forged in Vesuvius
clashing and cleaving
foes leaving them
dead to their dogs

time is
I can’t even pick up
a shovel or trashcan
weak hands and limbs
suited for versified
conflicts engaged
from recumbence
with fingertip taps

time will
tell whether honor
becomes me because or
in spite of the scarring
my enemies raised on
my body and mind
or denies to me
feather and stick

High Desert

 

rich lavender skies cast botanical hues
beneath knees of mute bluffs
splashed by deep orange sunsets
watered by the Snake run with tears
shed by warrior ghosts
Shoshone and Paiute and Ute
keeping vigil on rituals
practiced for ten thousand years
here in the hauntings

 

color dances with texture
across ballroom landscapes
where moccasins made gentle injury
where buffalo skins swaddled tentpoles
and spirits spoke portents in pipesmoke
but to see them today takes a shamanic gaze
into killing field shadows and riverbank mists
tracing grounds of a once sacred world
whose future will never match history

 

Magic Mounds

 

Mississippian Culture Mounds in Central USA

 

 

earthen faith
raised up misty terrains
from dirt and devotion
to ritual passage
between moon and sun
mystic sky set as altarpiece
tumulus tied by the chieftain
and priest to a
tribal cosmology
common to living and dead
heights reaching
to temple and tomb
leaving nothing to trace
of their hearts or their minds
all we have are the
weathered down shapes
of the mysteries
formed by their hands

 

 

From my book Small Noise

Canoe

“Long Journey Home”
Painting by Robert Griffing
From antiquesimagearchive.com

knifing through
ambient silence
surface tension
relenting conceding
this primitive trespass
abiding disturbance
of rippled reflections
absorbing deft
paddle plunged
penance for hiding
serenity fearful of
crass human insult

…but…

learning respectful
intentions of
corduroy motion by
leather-sewn birch bark
comes round to the view
that some men
by nature
by breeding
by conscious
deliberate affinity
some men
are nobler than others