Transparent Words - Poetry |
Gary Blankenship
Song of Myself #26 - Hunter (Wolverinbe)
Song of Myself #25 - Youth
25. The youth lies awake in the cedar-roofed garret and harks to the musical rain,
the rain rattles
the rain clatters
pitter-patters
but does the rain matter
except to lilacs abloom in the dooryard?
Will I find Annabel’s voice,
Gitche Gumee’s ripple,
the soft quiet of a snowy evening
if I stare at the ceiling
and let the rain carry me into the night?
First,
I need sustenance –
I’ve pretended to be Quaker,
even Witness and Mormon,
in order to at least eat well
on the Sabbath and meeting nights,
but since they ran Smith’s flock out of town,
the queer congregations have been leery of strangers.
If I make it through the winter,
I will join the army in spring
with the hope that I’m billeted
in a warm southern state
where we’ll do nothing but guard forts
from the British or Spanish.
Then there will be plenty of time
to consider magnolias
abloom in the courtyard.
as the rain falls
I sleep
the slumber of the deep
Song of Myself #26 - Hunter (Wolverine)
26. The Wolverine sets traps on the creek that helps fill the Huron,
half bear
half wolf
half panther
all devil
the beast stalks the northern forest
in search of his next kill
Attend my words, nojishe, grandchildren,
and I will tell you how I came to be named
for the forest demon, the fierce
My twelfth year, that of the Toadstool,
when I was left on Kitchee Manatou’s Island
for my spirit quest
A morning when the moon was ripe,
I stumbled over the fiend,
skull broken from an avalanche
He retained enough life to twitch,
but with a quick knife strike I slew him.
The destroyer retained his sufficient spirit
to slash and scar my arm,
here
and here
But he was mine,
I skinned him for a cloak
and took his name, Gwiingwa'aage.
I was the tribe’s warrior,
ferocious in battle and love,
but that was then
Now, the forests disappear,
cities, farms and fields crowd the wild lands,
and we hunt with hoe and plow
This is now,
I lack claw and fang
and must say goodbye, nojishe*
to my demon
and the spirits of all those we rent
Pg14