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.
Fantastic, Amanda-I love “Bellow low/ Pawing the earth…”
Such evocative imagery here.