Thanksgiving is a bit of a touchy subject for Indigenous people, and for good reason. Personally, I don’t want to get into that subject online and I feel I still have some learning to do. However, I believe this time of year is one for celebration of the harvest. At least that’s how I sometimes feel. I think it’s important to think of the salmon, and berries. I’m even more grateful for every little berry and every bite of salmon. Because if I’m being honest, I’m worried for their future. I like store bought berries, and farm fresh berries, but there is nothing like wild black huckleberry picked from the alpine where they grow, or a huge freshly caught wild salmon. Mmm how good a Spring tastes the same day it was caught. There’s nothing like it. Way better than turkey if you ask me.

Wild is how we are meant to be. I am grateful for every chance I get to try something different, something indigenous to the land. Wild is how I’m happiest, and how I feel free. Here’s a poem about that feeling of wildness that I love so much, and I’m so grateful for that feeling. A feeling that I love to see in my friends and family, and communities.

The Grandma’s and Grandpa’s are with you

They can protect you

Guide you

But only if you listen

Hush now

Go to the water

Jump in

Scream!

Let them hear you howl

That’s how you let out the pain

Leave it behind you

Let go

It always comes back I know

Keep going

You are wild

Walk through the grass

Again let the pain go

Bellow low

Pawing the Earth

Dirt in your nails

Brush against the trees

Run fast

You will find yourself

Right where you were meant to be

In your homeland

Look for the stories

Look for the truth

It’s written all over the Land

The water

The stars

Truth will rain down on you

Let it pour out

When you shout

“I’m ready!”

You don’t have to lose yourself anymore

You have the courage to face your fears

Face the courageous wild wolf within

Forget forgetting

Walk down rivers, and mountains

You’ll find that life is worth fighting for

Kúkstumkacw! Happy Fall, I pray that next year’s harvest is better, and it continues to grow, and more people join this fight for Land and life that is wild and free.