N. SCOTT MOMADAY ~

 

The Delight Song of Tsoai-Talee

I am a feather on the bright sky.

I am the blue horse that runs in the plain.

I am the fish that rolls, shining, in the water.

I am the shadow that follows a child.

I am the evening light, the luster of meadows.

I am an eagle playing with the wind.

I am a cluster of bright beads.

I am the farthest star.

I am the cold of dawn.

I am the roaring of the rain.

I am the glitter on the crust of the snow.

I am the long track of the moon in a lake.

I am a flame of four colors.

I am a deer standing away in the dusk.

I am a field of sumac and the pomme blanche.

I am an angle of geese in the winter sky.

I am the hunger of a young wolf.

I am the whole dream of these things.

You see, I am alive, I am alive

I stand in good relation to the earth.

I stand in good relation to the gods.

I stand in good relation to all that is beautiful.

I stand in good relation to the daughter of Tsen-tainte.

You see, I am alive, I am alive.

___________________________

N. Scott Momaday

from When the Light of the

World Was Subdued, Our Songs

Came Through, edited by Joy Harjo

Norton, 2020

SIMON ORTIZ ~

DENISE SWEET ~

Palominos Near Tuba City


In the desert of burning dreams, of armadillo and centipede,

I would call this night pitch dark back home

I would watch for any star to pass into dream song



or point of light called planet to whirl and twist like

a tiny pinwheel swallowing me to its vanishing point.

Here under pewter sky with words out of breath



I chase poems down like wild mares into fenced corrals

I watch close calls with wisdom rear and kick

against the fences of good judgment.



I used to think the skies brought them home,

thundering hooves and swollen bellies, ready to speak

and fire the dry bony floor, sulphuric aroma real as rain.



But now, the horses of white lightning gallop toward me;

afraid of nothing, they rush with an eye for hesitation

ready to brush up against my heart with their horse madness.



Here, it is the rider standing in the wavering heat, erect

and indisputable as a lightning rod braced in the open.

I stand my ground and wait, ready to hold on for dear life.



———————————

Denis Sweet
Palominos Near Tuba City
New & Selected Poems
Holy Cow! Press, 2018