The Voice

song gives birth to

the song and dance

as the dance steps

the story speaks

the icy mountain water

that pierces the deep thirst

drums my fire

drums my medicine pouch

deep within my blood

a feather in the sky

foam on clear water

Tayko-mol!

free as the bear

and tall as redwoods

throb my blood roots

when spirits ride high

a valley ripe with acorns

and yellow poppies everywhere

as i stand here

dreaming of you

jolting my dream

an old man struggling

with an eel his coat appears

disheveled and empty

in a sacred manner

i sang and waited

a lick of your blood

i must take, reverently, deer

for you, blue corn baby,

my thoughts

on a melody of love

sail the sky

around fire on my head

a rattlesnake hisses and slithers

then flies up out of sight

fighting in sleep i cry out

the snake in my spine is tensing

for combat

thoughts become forced and tight

the air is a sharp knife

from under me today

the earth was pulled

balancing on a sharp mountain ridge

i search for a plain

Tayko-mol has not left us

but lives in the pulse

of our words, and waits

in the azure for us all